Wild
by midori Haru
Summary: Once the world writes you off as crazy, is there any way to ever go back? How do you combat superstition, ignorance, and paranoia to reclaim a place no longer allowed to hold you?
1. Ch 0 Stasis

Hello all, and welcome to the (supposedly) long-awaited sister fic to Feral, a story of what happens after. Yes I'm posting it...and no it really isn't where it should be for me to even considor making it available for public consumption. But it is a pretty far along anyway, hopefully far enough that you'll never know the difference. I'm pretty sure Tootsiepop954 is more than ready for something new from me (as she said so when I asked the opinion of certain readers I tried to consult with about posting it. As she was the _only_ one to respond and that answer was a desparate _hell yes!_ I decided to go ahead and post.) Rumiko Takahashi may or may not have ever bowed to the demands of her readership, but I don't need much pressuring to do what I already want to do. Besides I wanted to see what kind of response I would get for this as every other attempt to garner your attention and response has thus far failed.

Now before we begin, there are a few definitions that need to be established. Or you could just skip this terminology and figure out as you go. It's up to you, but I suggest you read the definitions as some of these words are used in a particularly specific and slightly unusual way. I chose to protray certain cannon characters differently than I ever have before or have ever seen... But then, that isn't to say it hasn't happened.

anyway, lets start with the most pertinent definitions.

Let's start with the one of singular importance:

**Feral: **If you read the prequel to this fic then you already have a working knowledge of this particular word.

Basically it is used in reference to youkai who have/are mentally, emotionally, and physically demaged (read abused) to the point of complete conscious withdrawal. Basically they are like domestic animals that go Feral. They are driven by the instinct to survive and also contain the knowledge of which civilized places have the food. They also see danger from every direction for various reasons.

There are two types of Ferals, those that become Feral at the onset of puberty when raging hormones bring to light inherent mental instability (similar to the way many human mental disorders and the like become apparent at puberty.), and those who are driven Feral by perpetual abuse, etc.

This fic explores the world of such fallen in more detail.

**Alpha**: I suppose you think you know what this means. in a way you're right, but there are two different kinds of Alphas. There are the trained Alphas and the natural born Alphas.

Trained Alphas, like Inu no Taishou, are youkai, typically male, trained to lead a pack. Many youkai live in loosely organized packs based on species, clan, etc. The Alpha of a pack is responsible for the welfare of the pack members. This entails anything from actual health (providing food, living space, etc) to political safety from other packs. Usually the pack Alpha is not intimately responsible for inidividual needs beyond those of his immediate family (mate and offspring). Trained Alphas, despite their training can sometimes fail to do what's best for the pack, due to personal greed or misjudgment that could have been prevented by better instinctual guidance.

Natural Alphas do not have this problem. These are Alphas born to _be_ Alphas. They are instinctively driven to look after the pack. They sacrifice and defend and do for the benefit of the pack. They cannot help themselves. They do not necessarily have to be the head of a pack, for there can be more than one Alpha in a pack, but they do not do well following a trained Alpha. The problem with Natural Alphas is their inability to draw the line for themselves. They will sacrifice for the good of the pack to their own personal detriment. The stronger the Alpha the more crippling this problem tends to be.

Which brings us to our last new word of the day:

**Betas. **Natural Betas (for there are no other kind) Do not lead, do not want to be in charge, and seldom willingly make decisions for themselves, let alone for others. these type of youkai are rare and few survive to adulthood for a Beta requires a natural Alpha to survive. They sort of will themselves to death without them.

This is not to say that Betas are weak. They are not. They simply have pecualiar character traits that differ from most other Youkai. only a Natural Alpha can definitively identify a Beta. only an Alpha can provide for a Beta's emotional needs and mental well-being. But the Alpha, especially a strong one at the head of a large pack, fairly requires a beta. Betas make one choice willingly and without prompting. A beta decides which Alpha he/she will follow. Typically they only choose one and once the choice is made they stick to that Alpha like glue, protecting the Alpha from over-sacrifice, stress, and burn out. Betas can be ferocious in the defense of their chosen Alpha.

I think I'll end it there for now. Enjoy this little bit and all that follows.

**Stasis**

Sesshoumaru stared unerringly into the same trees he had stared into without ceasing for far longer than the Inu no Taishou cared for. Not that it was much of a surprise; the Taishou had been tired of his statue still son's occupation from the very first day. "You have to stop this," he growled at his heir. "She is gone. You need to get back to being the heir. She isn't coming back."

"Shut up Taishou," Kagome grumbled. "We brought some more food and another blanket," the little miko told the immobile youkai gently. "It's been awful cold up by Cloudshead according to the news, so I figured it had to be here as well."

"He wouldn't still be doing this if you didn't keep coddling him like this," Inu Taishou growled petulantly.

"You're right dad," Inuyasha snorted. "He'd be dead instead."

"Nonsense," Taishou scoffed.

"So says the biggest fool known to the current world," Morenda sniffed.

"He's stronger than this," Inu no Taishou insisted with half a snarl. He knew better than to make any real threatening moves towards the kuroneko. Even if Kagome wasn't constantly willing to singe any youkai to attempt it, the feline youkai had become a formidable fighter in the years since she was set free.

"Stronger than what, Taishou?" Kagome's miko phantom, Kikyou demanded. "Stronger than he was born to be? You turned him into a cold, violent, bloodlessly ruthless lord-in-training."

"A tower of strength," the old inu insisted. "No one dared challenge him."

"That isn't strength stupid!" Morenda yelled. Time had been kind to the kuroneko, but time spent around Kagome would force volume from anybody, damaged or not. "How many friends did he have? How many people asked him for help because of his strength? Or did no one dare?" she scoffed at him. "We did not dare beg our teachers for mercy, did that make them strong?"

"In a way-"

"Taishou, Shut up," Kagome growled at the fool darkly. "You never understood Sesshoumaru did you? What was he like as a child? Did he really freeze people out from birth? Or was he lost after his mother's death, shy and alone? Was he ever suited to be alpha? Or did you force it on him because of your need for an heir?"

"What would you know?" Inu no Taishou dismissed her and her words.

Kagome's eyes flashed fire at him, the insult noted down and added onto his term of penance. "I know what I see," she gestured to the inu youkai steadfastly staring into the woods and completely ignoring the verbal battle being waged over him. "He let you turn him into your heir, Denied the part of him that needed and was affectionate with pack for so long most inu would run mad with the loneliness of it. I would call _that_ strength. He hid away the parts of him you'd hinted marked weakness, never allowing the shame that he harbored such supposed weakness show. I call _that_ strength. In the end, he only broke because the one thing, the one person –" her voice wavered and tears fell. "The one person he was allowed to care about broke and abandoned him. Because of you, you rotten bully!"

"Kagome," Inuyasha murmured as he cradled his emotional mate. Their lives were still affected by the discovery made that day so many years prior. It would never go away, not with the evidence still lingering in their world day after day, waiting to finally be healed. And it would continue to be that way. Kagome was but one miko and those females from the school in the North trusted no other as they did her. And she would not abandon them.

It was just while she was in this condition she felt the stress of it more distinctly.

"It wouldn't have happened if I'd been more forceful," Kagome sighed. "If I'd just been a little more demanding, she would be here now and Sesshoumaru –"

"Shh," Inuyasha soothed her gently.

"I could have saved her and so many more," Kagome hiccupped.

"You shouldn't get so upset," Inuyasha tapped her on the nose with one gentle claw. "It's not your fault."

"You're the solution Kagome," Morenda added. "Morons like the Taishou are the problem. Trying to turn a Beta into an alpha," she sniffed.

"My son is not a Beta," Taishou growled.

"Well, he's certainly not an alpha," Morenda retorted. "Akemi was the alpha in the relationship, fool. She could never be forced to submit, no alpha could as proved by that damn school. You may beat them, abuse them, keep them in a cage, but they'll never submit by force."

"Preposterous," the Taishou shook his head. "No inu female is alpha in a mating or anything else for that matter."

"Maybe not in or of your clan," Kikyou shrugged.

"What are you insinuating?" the Inu no Taishou demanded.

"Akemi wasn't of your clan, remember," the miko phantom answered. "You went to a mate matcher to find a betrothed for your heir."

"Obviously their arcane ways understood him better than you did," Morenda observed. "They supplied him and you with the alpha you needed. And you ruined it."

"Be quiet," Inu no Taishou scowled.

"So there he sits pining for his master, his female, his alpha, like a dog for his owner," Morenda pointed to Sesshoumaru. "A situation of your own creation from willful denial of his true nature and hers."

"You know nothing," Taishou declared.

Morenda stared at him in disbelief. "Tell me that looks like an alpha to you and I'll call you a hundred different kinds of fool. And a cruel one at that."

"I will not stand for any more of this," inu Taishou thundered in frustrated anger. Being called a fool steadily over the past years had never once made him wonder if it were true. What did outsiders know? Kagome and Inuyasha were children, with memories of children of the situation. Kikyou had not even been present until the end. And Morenda was borderline Feral, her views about everything were skewed. It was time for it all to stop. Refusing to let go of the past and move on wasn't good for anyone involved, Taishou was certain of it. "This nonsense will end now," he moved to physically drag Sesshoumaru from his endless wait.

He managed to lay one hand on his son before he landed on the other side of the clearing with a bone-jarring thud. Morenda wasn't about to let him hurt Akemi's male with his stupidity ever again. She wanted to do at least that much for the inu female that was lost to them all now.

Time had been good to her and taught her how to properly thrash fool youkai. "You leave him be," Morenda glared at him from a ready crouch Sango had taught her. "You've done enough to them both. You do not know how painful it is to be told to be other than what you are. To be remade to into a mold you were never meant to fit. And you have done it more than once. It is a wonder your hanyou son did not suffer similar treatment."

"He did," Kagome declared shortly.

"I was just too stubborn to let anything come of it," Inuyasha smirked.

Kikyou shook her head, "You were lucky. The Taishou was already so focused on his plans for Sesshoumaru and Akemi. He didn't focus on you until you were older. He started in on Sesshoumaru at a very young age, Akemi from age six. He didn't turn all his attention to you until Sesshoumaru was through his age of maturity. By then you were fifteen."

"All Inuyasha suffered was a mild neglect until then, which my family generally made up for," Kagome agreed.

"Hey, I'm right here," Inuyasha protested. His mate smiled warmly up at him. "Keh!"

"I am a good father," Inu no Taishou growled.

Morenda looked him over, weighing his worth with her eyes. "Perhaps," she allowed, "for an alpha male born in the position of eldest." Inu no Taishou snarled wordlessly. "But we've not yet been presented with such a situation to make a fair judgment. You've proven lousy with every other chance. A beta male, alpha female and alpha male as a younger son."

"And I suppose a good father would just let his son pine eternally for a bitch that might already be dead," Inu no Taishou snarled.

Morenda sent him sailing once again. "How dare you! How dare you say such a thing! You've signed his death certificate, you-you"

"Knock-kneed, short-haired Yorkshire terrier on amphetamines!" Kagome yelled. She was mad enough to spit, but it would have been hardly worth the effort, as the Taishou wouldn't have noticed face down in the dirt as he was with Inuyasha on top of him. The miko shook her head and turned to the youkai the others fought over.

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to notice them. He sat in the same place, his golden eyes boring into the same tress. To anyone else he appeared unchanged after his father's words, but Kagome could see the added stiffness of reaction, of pain. He'd heard, he'd comprehended, and it was the worst thing to see.

Kagome had meant what she'd said; he was strong. He always had been, but strength couldn't last indefinitely. He'd held out for hope with Akemi. Now Taishou had dashed that fragile hope with words statistically likely, but not necessarily true.

She approached the inu slowly, carefully stepping over the rough ground before wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders from behind in a sisterly hug, her pregnancy making the gesture somewhat awkward. She bussed his cheek and leaned her head against his for a time.

Sesshoumaru said nothing, but the moisture on his cheek said it all. This would probably be the last time she would see him here. Not because he would leave to wander, nor because she wouldn't come back, but because he had given up now, only death could follow. Kagome's tears joined his in a sorrowful good bye. For the first time in months he reached up and acknowledged her presence with a squeeze of her hand.

She stayed like that until Inuyasha and the Taishou had worn themselves out and it was time to leave. Then Kagome kissed Sesshoumaru cheek a last time and left him in his chosen grave, waiting for Akemi.


	2. Ch 1 Abandon All Hope

Welcome once again to another chapter of _Wild_.

As apparently nobody really cares about this particular story I feel no compunction to update it regularly. I shall update maybe once every two weeks, two months, once a year or just whenever I feel like it. It is just so wonderful to know that I couldn't possibly be putting anyone else out by being so rotten. Deal with it, or tell me you don't like it. Anything else will be ignored.

I should probably forewarn what few people feel like reading that this is not a particularly action oriented piece, nor particularly funny, though my brand of humor does shine through occasionally it is somewhat serious as the themes (nightmarishly difficult to deal with as they may be) are serious. Superstition, mass ignorance, and politics are never easy to deal with and attempts to change any one of these is difficult and rough. Trying to write about them is too. Uphill battle all the way.

I have new words to define once again. I kind of decided it would be better to break it up and do a little before each chapter until I run out of words.

**Wild youkai.** Wild youkai are those youkai born in the forests or wilderness away from civilization. these are typically your lesser youkai, the more animal and less chatty cousins of the Taiyoukai, more powerful of the various species. Wild youkai differ from Feral youkai in that Wild youkai are born to their world and do not suffer any undue fear/paranoia of the that which they are not familiar with. they are rather like Wild animals. They can also be tamed.

**The Wilds**. These are the forested, unsettled parts of the world. They are parts of the world marginally explored and mapped due to the dangers of wild youkai and Feral predators. Feral youkai generally migrate forthwith to various branches of the Wild once they figure out they're losing their grip on "sanity". They are slightly safer there than in society because a Feral in society is quickly exterminated for the danger they present. I stress the words _slightly safer_. The wilds are a dangerous place for any creature born to it or not.

actually, I think that's it for vocabulary. After this I think I'll go into titles, pack behaviors (very brief), and very specific character bios. Unless I receive questions or perceive a gross misconception that might be common.

Enjoy my latest interpretation of that which Rumiko Takahashi gifted to the world to play with.

**Abandon All Hope**

Once again he was left alone, not that Sesshoumaru really noticed.

Sesshoumaru had never been meant to be an alpha. He didn't particularly care to be the center of attention or the one others looked to for leadership. He was quiet and contemplative, serious in so many ways, and more than willing to let someone else be in charge.

He wasn't even the first son.

Sesshoumaru's mother had been a powerful inu bitch betrothed to his father for political reason. It was meant to solidify an alliance in which the Taishou clan gained the wealth of his mother's clan in order to support the political aspirations of the united inu of the western territory. The goal was to be lord over all the youkai in the region after all.

The two had never quite clicked. The future Taishou refused to allow her to be what she was, a natural alpha in her own right. Born to lead, born to protect, the female had suffered a long endless time of oppression that ultimately affected her health. And her wonderful mate had blamed her for that weakness.

Insult to injury.

Early in their mating, through situations never explored or explained to Sesshoumaru, his mother conceived a single son. Katsuro had been everything his father could have wanted.

Proud and strong, the young inu showed his nature from the very start, taking to his training like a fish to water. Katsuro was decisive and charismatic. He inspired loyalties and camaraderie in all who were around him. He was the proper alpha a first son should be.

For a long time, he was the only son his father had, highly unusual in an inu clan and highly unacceptable to the inu who would rule over the clans of the west and claim the cardinal spot. The pressure to procreate increased as the inu clans began to suffer loss after loss to wars fought to put the inu on top of the other youkai in the territory. They were victorious of course, but at such loss in numbers as necessitated aggressive breeding practices. Mated couples were required to produce at least three offspring or fail in their duty to the clans.

Sesshoumaru's father failed for years, failure that was of course blamed on the inu bitch instead of investigated further for a real cause.

Sesshoumaru used to think, after Akemi suggested it, that his mother's difficulty conceiving was the first sign of her declining health. If looked into she might have lived, might have been saved from her death.

Instead, she was browbeaten until she finally managed to conceive a second time and birthed a son, Sesshoumaru. A birthing that left her weakened beyond repair. He hadn't understood it at the time, why his vague memories were always of her resting, of her tired and sad.

His last memory of her was of an alpha bitch protecting her youngest son. They had gone out to an open field near the Western wilds as they often did, his mother and Sesshoumaru. They would take a meal and spend the day exploring nature and deepening his knowledge of herb lore. Or rather, being two years old, he learned what was okay to eat and what was better shredded to mulch.

A Feral youkai had attacked them. A male in search of food and female. He found both, Sesshoumaru supposed, but it was doubtful the Feral had expected the inu bitch to put up such a fight.

She had been born an alpha and she died one. In her death she left a mate who barely mourned her, a son who hardly missed her and Sesshoumaru who had nothing without her.

Sesshoumaru had meant very little to his father as a beta male. All that he needed to be was submissive to his brother and father, and as a natural beta that didn't need to be taught. So he was ignored by the Taishou and left to his own devices.

Katsuro, on the other hand, was certain to always have some words for his younger brother. Words of strength, of kindness and support for he was a natural alpha with a natural fondness and protectiveness for pack. Unlike the Taishou, Katsuro had always seemed to understand him and his needs. His life would have been very different if Katsuro had still been around.

Unfortunately, Katsuro had not stayed with him more than three years after their mother's death, taking with him Sesshoumaru's last emotional support.

Worse, once Katsuro was gone Sesshoumaru was thrust into his father's sight and left to fill the roll of heir. Everything he had always been was declared wrong for an heir. An heir meant for the position of Taishou and Lord West. It didn't matter that he wanted neither position. It didn't matter how much his stomach tore him inside out when he could hear the whispers at official functions. Childhood was over.

At ten he'd been wearied of living already. He felt hollow and lost but he'd achieved his father's goal. No one dared question him. Even his new brother feared to approach him and it hurt in so many ways impossible for an inu so young to explain or even understand.

His father, in a single act that turned out to be even remotely kind towards his son, had rewarded Sesshoumaru by paying for the services of a mate matcher rather than arranging a betrothal for political reasons.

Mate matchers were expensive. To obtain the services of one was a show of wealth and power, probably the only reason the Taishou had done it. But the betrothal decided upon by mate matchers were always the longest lasting and happiest pairings. Without a mate matcher, Sesshoumaru doubted he ever would have met Akemi, and he might have become exactly who he was perceived to be.

He was so angry. At that age he didn't know how to handle all the feelings he still felt full force despite being forbidden to show them, but anger he'd understood. He'd felt nothing but anger toward everything that frustrated him.

Sesshoumaru was angry with the people he met for not seeing past the obvious. He was angry with his father for keeping him from showing pack affection for the only brother he now had the way Katsuro always did for him. He did not necessarily hate the hanyou, despite the Taishou replacing his mother with a human. Despite the Taishou disrespecting the inu bitch by failing to mourn her respectfully and properly.

No, Sesshoumaru's anger for his half sibling stemmed from the frustration of being unable to interact with the younger male in a way the pup could understand. He was angry at being isolated within his own pack. He was angry at the praise his fool teachers and father heaped on his achievements, achievements that felt wrong to every instinct he had.

But he was a pup himself, still filled with the fear of disappointing the only parent he had. He was still shy with his words so he didn't know how to tell his most terrifying father of his unhappiness. The young Sesshoumaru had felt as though he was being pumped full of air to a pressure and capacity his skin was never meant to hold. One day the stretched feeling would give way to an emptiness that existed after it all exploded outward leaving nothing of himself and nothing for his father to use.

The sad part was, at ten he almost wished for it.

Then Akemi came. Akemi saw him, the real him, and recognized him for what he was. Sesshoumaru instinctively recognized the alpha in her and by virtue of their betrothal, found the alpha he needed to continue. Akemi was willing to pretend submissiveness for his father. She was a better coach for him to pretend dominance than ever his father could have been.

She was a natural alpha, a creature that couldn't help but lead, but she was also an inu bitch so she was careful of how she led. He let her lead him into trouble occasionally, but often his fear of disappointing his father and natural timidity talked her out of it. She didn't hold it against him. She would smile softly and suggest something different.

It was because of Akemi he was able to slightly connect to his half brother. The younger inu had the makings of the alpha his father needed, but he wasn't a natural alpha the way Akemi was so often the hanyou was relegated to following in her wake as much as Sesshoumaru.

Everyone followed Akemi where she lead, even children who had no knowledge of her seemed drawn into her mischief and fun. It was how Inuyasha met Kagome, a natural alpha born in a human body. And an instant friend Sesshoumaru would never have had before.

Akemi was an adventurous pup, in love with nature the same as her betrothed and given to wandering in to it. It was because of her that Sesshoumaru was able to enter the wilds again after his mother's death. And it was because of her wanderings that she came to save Sango, another friend to see past the reputation and image he was forced to promote.

A friend whose affection and loyalty had helped coerce the Taishou into buying the land on which the Feral Akemi now found refuge. The land on which he waited for his all-important alpha to return to lead him once again.

A natural Beta, such as himself, absolutely required an alpha to function. While Akemi had been away at school, the thought of her return had sustained him. The delay in her return had hurt him and resurrected his anger at his father, but he had coped. He found support in the friends and younger brother Akemi had helped him connect with. He distracted himself with a project that gave the illusion of closeness to her and seemed to shorten his wait.

Then the worst thing had happened. Akemi didn't come home. Instead she ran and, like the Beta he was, he followed. And he would follow no other. Akemi was the only alpha bitch for him.

It was unlikely he'd have been able to find another youkai betrothed in any case. Most female youkai were engaged by the age of six. He couldn't last long enough to wait for another female to grow old enough to mate, and it was almost impossible that his new betrothed would be alpha enough to save him. Not like Akemi had been, still was, though Feral and hidden from him.

Sesshoumaru had decided, he would follow no other alpha, the choices of which were undesirable, as his father had cost him the alpha he wanted and Inuyasha was too human to properly understand what he needed. No, it had to be Akemi.

So he sat pining for her the way Kagome had said he was. Akemi's absence was a physical ache in his body that drowned out most other sensations. He didn't feel heat nor cold. He didn't feel the rain when it came nor the sun as it beat down.

Only hope of her return made it possible to occasionally feel the hunger pangs that signaled the need for food.

Today, by the words of the same father that had sent Akemi to be broken, that hope had been destroyed. Dead he had declared her.

If they had mated, Sesshoumaru would know. But they hadn't and he didn't. His hope had been fragile at best, to have it shatter so…

He felt dead. He felt directionless and unsustained. He felt only the ache of Akemi's absence. Still he would wait and if he died before she came back, well he would still wait for her in death.


	3. Ch 2 In The Woods

Well met, dear reader.

I received some comments on my portrayal of Sesshoumaru in the last chapter (along with a few over my threat to post irregularly). It is an unusual role for The Killing Perfection to be interpretted as anything but alpha, dominant and in charge. I know, I used that take on his character in the past myself. The thing is, what is an Alpha without a pack? Dogs are social animals, almost all canines are. There's hierarchy and jostling for position in any pack.

Anyone that's watched the Dog Whisperer on TV knows that often as not a dog will think itself alpha over it's human owner just as easily as one person will believe themselves better than another. So there is a similar stucture in humanity as well. Why not then, also in youkai?

So why is Sesshoumaru not the alpha? Most people believe that Takahashi portrayed sesshoumaru as obviously dominant, but she really didn't establish his character beyond being aristocratic (and wimps, leaders, nobles, and scalawags can all be aristocrats, that's a fault of birth not temperament), aloof and stoic. So he doesn't talk much, doesn't take intimacy lightly, and has a title. That's it. He is not deliberately cruel and has little respect for Hanyou, humans, and Inuyasha specifically. And yet, he also insures that Jaken and Rin are safe, A youkai he despises and a human of little use (love her though I do, Rin really serves no purpose besides to pick on Jaken and get into trouble). This could be instinct or training, but even the lowest, weakest members in a pack will take care of each other, alpha or not.

So I made him not.

This does not make him weak. He is Beta, not weak, not particularly submissive, and not ridiculously biddable. I explained that part already if you were paying attention.

He doesn't follow just anyone, he makes that choice consciously and seriously. He doesn't follow unquestioningly. That's not his job. His job is to see that his alpha doesn't give too much of herself to the pack. Part of the reason he took Akemi taking off so hard is because she porbably wouldn't have reached such a state had he been with her before hand. Akemi gave a lot of herself to protect the other females suffering in her school. had her beta been with her, he would have gotten her out and most the other girls as well, years before it went to such a critical stage. Akemi would not have left without them and he would have known that.

A beta is probably the most difficult position to fill because an Alpha is willful and driven to help out the pack, to protect them and care for them. A beta needs a certain amount of stubbornness, strategy, and a bit of cunning to get around the alpha without going head to head against them.

Head to head with an alpha is a fools game for others alphas. A beta only cares about the Alpha he chooses to follow.

Woo, I wax on elquently don't I? I think that's more than enough for now. Sesshoumaru is not necessarily out of character though the interpretation might seem highly original. I like him this way. It makes him solid as a character. But then, everyone is entitled to his/her oppinion.

Luckily, most the oppinions so far coincide with mine.

**In the Woods**

The crisp smell of the coming frost wafted trough trees browned with dormancy. The moving air stirred fallen leaves from the previous fall, sending them dancing into the open area free of brush and cover. A common misconception was that such a scene was accompanied by silence, but it simply wasn't true.

There was the sound of small furry bodies scurrying under the brush in search of whatever last morsels of food could be found. The air held the soft hooting of slumbering owls and the flap of winter wings. Deep in the earth gentle snores could be heard from animals wise enough to hibernate through the colder, barren time of year.

She had paused to take it all in; the sound of the creaking branches, the scent of frost and mouldering leaves. She loved this forest, her forest. At least it was hers in as much as a forest could belong to anyone. She knew the sounds of its seasons, the sight of its life, the rhythm of its movement and it soothed her.

Her hunting as of late was proving a great deal less fruitful than she preferred. The two squirrels dangling by their tails at her side were more fuzz than meat and hardly worth the trouble of catching, skinning, and eating, but this late in the season; they were likely the best she was going to do. It was for times like this that she stored food from the summer season. Tough and dry, her stores would still finish out her meal nicely.

She sighed, this would likely be her last excursion from her den for the season. It was unwise to go out at the end of winter/beginning of spring. Males in the wilds tend to hunt female flesh more than food this time of year and she had no desire to be caught outside her den by such a hunter.

Even when her fertile period was upon her, she did not desire their touch to ease the ache. Feral males were not gentle. Few females survived the touch of a feral male with the possibility of procreation on his mind. She had lived this long because luck had kept her safe, and planning had kept her in when the males hunted for fertile females. She had no desire to stop it now.

She paused as a scent passed her nose. She recognized it instantly as she would any scent so constantly found within the trees. This one came from an unusual source.

On the edge of this densely forested track was an artificial clearing filled with new trees. There was a spot stained with blood in which nothing grew and no wood creature would go near it. The source of this sudden scent sat on the other side of the clearing.

It was a non-feral male that never seemed to move.

Occasionally other non-ferals would come to visit him, but they never stayed long and he didn't seem to acknowledge them. He merely stared into the trees, clearly watching for something, waiting for something.

Most days she hardly bothered to notice his presence at all, it was so constant it seemed almost as much a part of the forest as the trees. Some days, she thought he waited for someone. Other days, when she was holed up in her den and at leisure to think of such things, she imagined he attempted to skip death and fertilizer to simply become a tree by his stillness.

Today was different. His scent was off.

She approached him slowly, covertly. There was no need to reveal herself until she properly assessed what her nose was telling her. She moved in from the side to study him. It wasn't the first time she had seen him this close, but from what she could see, it might as well have been.

He looked nothing like he used to. His long silver hair no long shone in the sun. It hung dull and limp. The garments he wore hung off him as though bits of his body underneath them had gone missing. He was starving, she realized, though she could not figure out why. There was food beside him, offerings from his visitors, slowly beginning to spoil.

Something was wrong with him and it wasn't just the sickness she'd caught on the wind. Gut instinct told her he was never supposed to be like this and she was moving out of cover before she'd even thought to do it.

For the first time since she'd been aware of his presence in the forest his eyes shifted from their steady gaze to look at her. His eyes bore into hers as she stared back. Experience had taught her to never look away from anything that made her nervous. Odd behavior like his failed to be anything but unnerving. Still her instinct drove her closer and he watched her take every step.

She forced herself to stop while she was still just outside his reach. Whatever was wrong with him, he was still male and males were dangerous. Besides, she'd never liked this clearing. It tugged on memories from before her coming to the wilds, memories she felt were best left lost to her now. Sort of forgotten, but not.

On impulse she laid the two squirrels down before him. Rather like a useful symbol of peace. Not that Ferals had much use for such things. She merely thought it was possible he was weary of the food his visitors brought him. She could understand growing weary of the same fare, especially if one didn't hunt and kill it personally before hand. Granted it took more than that to voluntarily starve oneself to this point as he had.

He took no notice of the squirrels she set down in front of him. It was as if they didn't exist at all.

She, on the other hand, had all of his attention. The first step she took in retreat seemed to ignite a spark of life inside him. He tried to move as if to follow her but instead collapsed and pitched forward onto his face. Squashing the squirrels as he landed.

It was clear to her that the male had not wanted her to leave. Whether he wanted her to stay or to follow where she went was immaterial, he just wanted to be where she was. It began to dawn on her that perhaps _she_ was what he waited for, though how he knew anything about her was a mystery still.

She studied him curiously as he struggled to right himself briefly before giving up with a keening whine. He was too weak to do what his instincts demanded.

In this moment, she had two choices. She could leave him here and he would die, either from starvation and illness or at the claws of the predators in the area drawn out by the scent of weakness. Or she could take him with her.

It went against so many instinctive safeguards. A female should never give away the location of her den, least of all to a male. Without a den she was vulnerable. If her den were revealed to others, if the location were known, it would be as if she had no den.

The fact that this male was not Feral did not ease her fears. Non-ferals were the ones to call in the exterminators. Non-ferals destroyed forests and Ferals for reasons that made no sense.

But this male…

Something about him was compelling. Somehow she didn't think she could live with herself if she left him to die when she could prevent it. It wasn't like he could offer her much of a threat and she was going to ground for a while anyway. She would have the time it would take to fix him.

Besides, she was getting old for a Feral. Her death was likely in the next few seasons anyway. Luck simply didn't last forever. She would prefer to prevent at least one death successfully before the end came for her.

With a decisive nod she stepped forward to help him rise. Carefully she turned to pull his longer body over her back to carry. She was strong and he was light, so lifting him wasn't too much trouble. She had known it wouldn't be.

No the hard part would be moving with speed and stealth. It wouldn't do him any good to take him with her if she drew the attention of the other youkai in the wood. It would be impossible to fight while impeded by his mass and to drop him would probably break something. Bones tend to become brittle when the meat is gone from them.

Coaxing him back from the brink of starvation would be challenge enough without having to tend bone injuries. Bones took longer to heal and were too easily set wrong in the wilds. Most Ferals would rather lose the limb than try to heal it. Of course losing a limb was almost a death sentence anyway.

She carefully moved out of the vulnerable clearing. They needed cover if there was any hope of moving without being seen. She stopped just inside the tree line to consider her route home. Every path through the forest held its dangers at any time of day. The trick was to pick the one least likely to be more than she could handle. Some were more dangerous at night. Most held greatest danger at dusk and dawn.

Carefully she shifted the burden on her back and headed off towards a stretch of forest most of the instinct driven inhabitants in the wilds avoided. A Miko Phantom patrolled that area. Such unnaturalness always made the more natural elements of the forest uneasy. Death should be avoided, in all its forms. Normally, she would bypass the area too. Today, she planned to head right through it. A little cover of death might be her surest chance of survival.

She'd skirted the region on previous occasions when she had been a little too close to being caught by another Feral. To do so was dangerous and she knew it. The last Feral she had lead to those trees had been seriously maimed. She could still hear him screaming some nights as she rested in her den.

Consciously she suppressed the recollection. The past could have no baring now.

The male on her back settled his nose in the crook of her neck with a whimper and a puff of air that danced across her skin. The whimper indicated some manner of disappointment or pain, but she was not at leisure to search out the reason or bother to concern herself over it. First she had to see to it they both made it to the den.

Her movements were slow and cautious. To run might get her to safety quicker, but the risk of detection was higher. She did not trust her ability to run silent while burdened so. Nor did she trust the male to stay on her back at such speeds. What little help he managed to give her in keeping him in place was tenuous at best. He had no strength with which to hold on by himself.

So she moved slow and wary, her senses tuned to detect even the slightest hint of a threat over his uneven breathing in her ear. She listened to the wind for subtle changes. She tasted the air for possible hunters and placed every step with care lest a foot fall draw danger near. She kept her youki from reaching out; knowing to reach out was to leave herself open to detection by others.

Halfway to the den, chill rain began to fall. She sped up under such cover. In some ways, the rain was a blessing as it allowed her a greater measure of security. Few would bother venturing out to hunt in such weather this time of year. And there was no other reason to be out otherwise. No one could hear her move or breath under the sound of rainfall, so no one could spy upon them.

Chill rain could also bring illness to those already weakened as this male was. Illness that could be deadly in the wilds. Perhaps he would die despite her efforts to save him.

She growled with determination. She wouldn't give up until he breathed his last. If he had no will of his own with which to fight back encroaching death, the she would lend him hers. Death was inevitable true, but it didn't have to be encouraged to arrive.

She growled at the male to stay awake, that the den was near. She doubted he consciously understood her. Non-ferals never seemed capable of proper speech, rather they resorted to nonsensical syllables and tones.

She often found it odd that a non-feral automatically knew how to speak properly the minute they became feral, but seldom a minute before. Perhaps the other sounds got in the way of their understanding the proper language of youkai.

Still she tried to encourage him with tone and growl, rumble and warmth.

When she finally made it to the den it became obvious that absolutely none of her message got through. He was soaking wet, shivering, and asleep. With a petulant growl she stripped him down to the skin before setting him to rest in her nest of clothing. It had taken her years to pad it just right with the cast off clothing of Ferals that no longer needed them. It was soft and warm.

She stripped herself of wet garments as well, draping the clothes over the boulders near the front of her den before approaching the blackened pit that would hold her fire. She used only the driest wood. The less smoke she created from her main fire, the less chances for discovery.

Like all things in the wild, the fire took time to blaze adequately enough for her to crawl in beside her guest and evaluate the effects of the rain. The diagnosis was not good.

He burned with fever that emanated considerable heat above his skin. It was almost uncomfortable to touch him though there was little hope to avoid it. The moment she settled into her nest, he cuddled close to her despite his shivering. His skin was covered in sweat signifying he would soon need water to replenish what he lost and a bath to remove the residue from his skin before it could interfere with his body's natural efforts to cool him.

This was only the least of her problems.

There was the possibility that this illness would keep him unconscious. If it did, feeding him was going to be difficult as she wasn't quite certain as to how to feed an unconscious youkai.

She would figure something out, she was sure. She just hoped it was quick and effective enough to save him. For now, she and he could use some rest. She always thought sharper when she wasn't weary and time would tell whether he would wake.

So she bedded down for a bit of sleep with the youkai male nosing restlessly at the skin of her neck.


	4. Ch 3 Harbinger

And thus another chapter of _Wild_.

The word "Harbinger" is generally meant to be a portent of things to come, typically bad. Like the toll marking the witching hour in which so much nastiness is believed to occur. Or it could be an omen, good or bad. It could also be an act by someone that leads to something else. Such as an easily discovered lie can lead you to a great deal of trouble. A Harbinger does not necessarily have to be a big thing, a grand gesture, or something that seems important at the time. Sort of like the flap of butterfly wings are the cause of hurricanes on the other side of the world in chaos Theory. But without the butterfly the other thing would not happen...at least that is what the theory would have us believe anyway.

In this chapter, the harbinger occurs. Our Feral Female takes it to foreshadow her personal demise. Ferals, in general, are rather fatalistic by nature. Those who have suffered abuse, are surrounded by obvious dangers, and see a great deal of death in those around them tend to be.

Yes, our Feral Female is the lost Akemi. If you hadn't caught that I'm sorry. I'm kind of cryptic in my character introductions, especially when I have introduced them before. Yes, the sick non-feral male is Sesshoumaru. Again, I already introduced him with plenty of clues that his health was going to take a drastic turn for the worse. please use your head as you read this. I love Plot devices and I love waiting several chapters to use them. I'm a big fan of puzzles and making people think. Hell in _Chronicles_ I left my plot devices sitting in the back ground for twenty plus chapters before using them. Hopefully this fic won't be so long, but I am giving you fair warning about the clues and things. Still if you have questions, go ahead and ask. I love talking my theories of Youkai behavior and stuff. I've really thought about these things.

P.S. _Stuff_ happens in this chapter. Stuff that Rumiko Takahashi would never put in her work. She's not that nice to her characters! Heehee.

**Harbinger **

Seven times the moon hid in darkness, seven times it danced full in the sky over her den and still his illness lingered.

When she first took him in she had not imagined she would still be keeping him in company for so long. She was simply to save him from death, bring him back from the brink, and then send him on his way. All she had seemingly managed was to prevent his demise.

Technically the non-Feral male was still among the living. He breathed, he moved – restlessly in his fevered sleep. He woke occasionally, though he never seemed fully aware when his eyes opened and nothing around him caught his attention except for her.

His willfully stubborn disregard for all her attempts to make him well, made her that much more determined to do it. All of her attention and unnecessary energy was devoted towards making him better. She shortened her hunts, spent less time outside. She was concentrating so hard on this single goal, she failed to pay attention to what the passage of time truly meant to her.

Right now she was berating herself for being six kinds of stupid for it. She should have seen the signs, expected its coming. Unlike most Ferals, she was deucedly regular about it, but it simply slipped her mind while she fought for his health.

The male that had posed no threat in early spring by his very weakness was now likely the instrument of her demise whether he was aware of it or not.

Oh she was a fool. The promise of death flowed through her veins and stared at her with temptation. It was a foregone conclusion. Like every youkai, Feral or otherwise, her body was hardwired to lose this battle no matter how hard she fought against it.

Her season had come. Right on time, it snuck below her notice until the flow of heat under her skin made her undeniably aware of her predicament. The ache had not yet set in, but her blood already flowed hot, making her skin feel cold and desperate for warmth, the warmth of a living body touching hers.

Every other period of fertility, she would have bottled herself inside her den, feeding the fire for the warmth she knew she didn't need. But this was only the precursor of what was to come. It would be a hellish week of wanting, of need.

Even so, it was preferable to death by rutting with a male, by carrying, by birthing, or by nurturing what she birthed. Some Ferals were lucky, their cycles flowed rarely and so long as the female paid attention, easy to guard. Still any fertile season was dangerous for it was the one time a female could not fight against the need to procreate.

She let out a puff of frustrated air. What she wouldn't give to be alone.

The feeling of lacking warmth increased until the natural coolness of the air pricked painfully along every inch of her skin and the small amount of clothing she wore seemed to press unbearably against her. With a groan she removed her coverings, preferring the pricking to the pressure, but in pain either way. It was either remove them now while she was still coherent or shred it later when the aching consumed her with its madness. Sadly her clothing was the least of her problems.

She pressed herself back against the cool den wall, ignoring how its mild temperature seemed to spear her back with jagged frozen knives. She hoped if she pressed hard enough she would sink into the earth and away from the male slumbering unknowingly in her nest where he had been since she brought here. She didn't want to touch him even while she couldn't remove her eyes from the fragile, chiseled features of his face.

Her body began to prepare itself to accept a male body into her female one.

He shifted restlessly in his sleep, rolling onto his back with a toss of silver hair.

Her youki flared and her control over her scent faltered and finally failed altogether as always happened during her heat. The den was flooded with her personal scent, laced as it was with pheromones.

The restless male abruptly stilled, taking in the scented air with every even breath.

It was strange for him to be so still. She almost wondered what his calming at her scent meant, but her body chose to throw her into the aching full force just then. Her eyes closed as a high keening sound escaped her. It was always a surprise how strongly the ache would hit her. She felt it in every inch of her being. Her breath gasped out of her open mouth as her emptiness seemed to grow until it was all she was aware of.

It took several moments of pressing herself sharply into the den wall to ground herself before she could turn her attention outwards again. It was then she saw true temptation.

Like any male with the scent of female in his senses, the non-feral male's body had reacted to her fertile scent. She could see his offering for the ache jutting up below the muscled planes she had so painstakingly guided his youki to rebuild. Even as she watched his body moved slightly to find her emptiness with an upward thrust and her mouth went dry.

She didn't want a pup, but she had trouble thinking past the ache. She didn't want to carry a life that would ultimately fail within a year, but her body reacted to his motion. The clamor of protests and urgings in her head were pointless and irrelevant. There was only one possible conclusion for this situation. She knew it, had known it from the moment she first realized her heat was upon her. The only choice here was whether she chose to initiate it before she lost all control or after. If she waited, chances are she would hurt him in the process. And she would likely still suffer out the entire period of heat, something his health could not afford.

Again she studied his face, attempting briefly, to ignore the motions he attempted in response to her pheromones. He still seemed to slumber. Perhaps if she did this, it would be like the other seasons where she supplied something for her body to clutch at and nothing more. Nothing like the rutting that had called death to the other females she had known.

Slowly she allowed herself to slide down to the ground, eyes still stuck on the male and that piece of him that could give relief. She had never bothered to stare at him before, though his look and his body were well known to her by now. Staring gave his skin the extra glow in the firelight as her eyes began to see the youki dancing along his edges.

This male, despite his illness and his long-term slumber, held power in his soul. Power she could feel and sometimes, like now, see. Power she occasionally feared lest he turn it against her.

In this moment it drew her across the short distance to where he lay on her bed, moving unconsciously to answer the call broadcast in her scent. For the first time in her Feral life, she moved timidly. Unsure of each move she made, involuntarily reacting to each empty thrust he made.

She moved over him warily, her gaze switching to watch his eyes for the first flutter of awareness. As much as she told herself she would move away if he stirred so much as an eyelash, she knew it wouldn't make a difference. She was too close, too far gone, her decision already made.

Finally she hovered over him, her nearness seemed to still his movement as if aware she was there and about to grant them both the relief their bodies demanded. She paused, a single moment of rationality burst through her hormonal haze berating her with the reality of what this would mean for her, death, pain and suffering. A breath filled with tension and the scent of male quickly shoved reality out of the den.

Ever so slowly, cautiously, timidly she fed him into the void the aching made seem so large. Each small measure of flesh went further to filling the emptiness until she leaned back in contented bliss, savoring the feeling of being filled without serious pain as she had experienced in her other seasons. It was the closest to pleasure she expected to get.

Hands suddenly clamped on her hips and her spine snapped to attention. Her startled gaze darted to the face of the male cradled inside her body. His eyes were frighteningly open and bloody. He wasn't Feral, she knew. Non-ferals often showed Feral eyes when weakened, enraged or carnally excited.

She was unaware of non-feral rutting, but she doubted it was that different from the Feral version, painful and bloody. Her muscles tensed further in wary expectation and anxiety. She was afraid.

He growled at her to relax, a sound that ended in a pleading whine. He didn't want her fear. His head tilted to consider her. She almost believed he pondered how to go about soothing her fears.

In the end, he shifted his clawed hands and lifted her off him, groaning as her body clenched in protest of his withdrawal. He held her securely above him a moment before thrusting upward.

Her eyes glazed over as actual pleasure shot through her body, bounding from the pads of her toes until she thought she felt it under her tongue. Could it be possible to enjoy the act that would ultimately doom her? A Feral's life held only pain and the absence of pain. Pleasure was not something she knew or expected.

He allowed himself to fall from her before thrusting upward again. Apparently it was possible, as the sensations repeated themselves each time his hips thrust upwards to meet hers.

She wasn't aware when she fought her way free of his grip to meet his upward movement with a downward one of her own. She didn't notice when one of his claws began to roam in ways that increased her sense of pleasurable anticipation. But she did notice when he began to swell. She was completely aware of the way her body tightened until they stuck together in the way of inu conceiving.

She felt as he filled her with warmth just as she exploded with feeling so wonderful she wasn't sure she could live through it. And when it was done, she returned to herself to find the two of them locked together with her slumped over his chest panting. She glanced up at her male to find him watching her. Gently he swept her hair from her face.

He growled questioningly and she responded to sooth him. A moment later he closed his eyes to rest, the illness catching him up and sucking him down again. She was disappointed to see him sleep, but being Feral made her practical.

He hadn't stayed awake for longer than a few breaths together in over two seasons. She growled in amusement as her breathing began to slow to a more normal regular pace. She was lucky he had managed to stay awake long enough to finish.

She studied him as her heart finally reduced its speed. He was sweaty again, which meant he'd have to be bathed. For once she would most likely enjoy it. He had gifted her with pleasure beyond her ken, and for that she would gladly care for his body.

Now was as good a time as any since she was trapped against him for the interim. She leaned up to lick the salt off his face starting at his forehead and slowly moving down. The taste of his skin and his most recent exertion tingled pleasantly on her tongue. His taste had never bothered her; rather it was the tedium of the chore.

There was nothing of the everyday in it this time. Just as she reached his left cheek her head was seized in one clawed hand and her lips were sealed against his in a single moment. He coaxed her mouth open before exploring his own taste on her tongue. Her eyes rolled with this new pleasure.

She didn't know what it was called or what purpose it served, but it was delightful. Before she even noticed his other hand was missing in action she felt it touch her near where he still filled her and her senses began to send her writhing in ecstasy. He even managed to find enough leeway for a little movement inside her before she exploded a second time and his special warmth renewed itself.

This time when she found herself again she was sprawled over him with his nose buried in her neck.

He whined that she let him rest this time and she huffed.

She had been letting him rest, she growled, but he needed a bath. He responded by rolling over top of her with a growl, slipping free of her mid-motion, before proceeding to bathe _her_.

Again her body heated up as if in heat, which was impossible considering both their bodies believed she had conceived. He wasn't even half done before she was squirming with need that had no reason but he fulfilled it even so.

Exhausted and pleasantly boneless she succumbed to the lethargy of fatigue and exertion, actually managing to fall asleep before he did.


	5. Ch 4 Awaken Sleeping Beauty

I do apologized for my tardiness in posting, I was moving this weekend...That's right moving. From a tiny little apartment to a three bedroom house. And I had company in order to help me move. So as you can see, I had good reason.

I'd like to make sure everyone is aware that Sesshoumaru was not fully conscious in the last chapter so he is not AWARE of anything that happened. I do love leaving him in the dark sometimes. Rumiko Takahashi always portrayed him as knowing quite a bit of what is going on despite his not being present or obviously privy to most of the events in her stories. He likes to be well informed. Which makes it so much fun to keep things from him.

**Awaken Sleeping Beauty**

Golden eyes opened with something like awareness behind them, though it took him awhile to make sense of what he saw. Sesshoumaru lay flat on his back looking up. Only, where he last remembered being looking up should have granted a view of the sky.

What he saw was not wide spread blue. It was not the blue-black of night. There were no stars, no clouds, nor the occasional bird flying above. Instead he saw flickering light dancing over something close and solid and dark. He saw that darkness wormed through with white lightning bolts that didn't flash and fade but remained constant. It seemed a strange thing for lightning to do before his eyes finally convinced his brain that it wasn't the sky he was looking at.

Rather, it was a dirt ceiling of some kind and the white lightning was actually the pail roots of plants that grew above it. The snap of a strange popping made him turn to see the fire that had supplied the flickering light. The wood had shifted naturally as the flame ate at it providing more fuel for the blaze that emitted both light and warmth.

Its dance mesmerized him for a while before his eyes began to take in the details of the pit that held it. The crude ring of stones secured the flames from the stack of extra wood and the padded area he rested on quite sufficiently, though the fire wasn't so big there was much of a chance as to it setting either one ablaze. He couldn't actually see anything else that would mark this subterranean haven a regular dwelling. He could see no containers to hold extra foodstuffs or water. There was no obvious door or other signs of habitation.

Then again, what precisely would a wild youkai need in the wild? A place to sleep, a bit of warmth, and of course food, but of course he could be missing a storage area or whatever was behind him since he was still lying on his side looking in the only direction he'd bothered to turn since waking.

A soft sigh drew his attention from his thoughts concerning his current shelter. He hadn't realized he had company and it had been a long time since he had actually slept beside anyone. Inu slept in heaps as puppies, cuddled warmly together, sharing breath and comfort.

Sesshoumaru had been excluded from that at a very young age. His older brother had always been beyond the age of such behavior and the pressure's of being heir, despite his nature, and the demands of his father had kept him from it with his younger brother for many years. Akemi's coming into his life had changed that. Sometimes he managed to sneak naps with her; occasionally Inuyasha and even Kagome would join them. It was a precious thing to rest easy in the presence of pack. A rare treasure made all the more valuable for his being almost sequestered from it for so many years of his childhood.

Then Akemi had been sent away and those times were once again gone. He had never sought out someone else to sleep beside him while she was gone, inu being decidedly loyal and Inuyasha's increasing possessiveness over Kagome's time prevented it. Without Akemi, he wasn't encouraged to share.

But he was no longer of an age for such behavior. From the age of his maturity custom dictated he cuddle only with his mate and possibly the pups they would produce. A near impossibility last time he was conscious.

This new situation quite awesomely proved that even in the wilds it was true. Sesshoumaru may have slept beside his unidentified companion, but they weren't touching. In fact he had plenty of room in which to turn and observe his neighbor.

The full head of pink hair flowing down to rest along a painfully scarred back was his first sight. It told him a lot of his bedmate. Somebody must have whipped this poor creature horrifically and often for the marks to remain permanently over lapping every inch of skin exposed to his eyes. And there was a lot of skin, making him aware for the first time that they both were completely unclothed.

The patchy texture of the pink in the other's hair indicated it wasn't naturally that way. Some youkai with extremely pail follicle coloring could wind up with stained locks depending on contact with various chemicals or materials…such as blood in the case of this youkai, if his suspicions were correct. The native hair color may never be recovered. It was why youkai seldom bothered with artificial dyes. Colors could stick around forever.

Such a color, such scarring, and his underground location indicated he was in the company of a Feral.

So he was still in the wilds. Most likely, anyway.

The idea of being lost in the wild, trapped with an actual Feral held no fear for him. He didn't worry over what this youkai would do because it was obvious death and maiming was not high on the list. Otherwise Sesshoumaru would not have woken up at all. He'd be dead already or in serious pain. Instead he felt lethargic, as if long ill, and content.

His Feral companion shifted slightly, the slumberous movement drawing Sesshoumaru's attention to the new physical attributes brought to light. His body instantly reacted to naked female. It was unusual in his experience for him to have done so. He had never before reacted in such a way around any female, even with the scent of their heat teasing his senses.

This youkai gave out no obvious signs of fertility or awareness, but his body practically begged to caress, touch and otherwise become intimate with her. And he hadn't even seen her face. He didn't need to. This _had_ to be his long lost Akemi, or what had become of her anyway. The ache of missing her was gone, and she was the only one to draw a reaction even close to this wanting in him.

He had no idea what to expect of her now. When last Sesshoumaru had seen the inu bitch, she had shown no recognition of him. He had simply been male like every other youkai to cause her harm. At the time he hadn't been aware of the reasons behind her behavior towards him. He'd simply felt hurt by it.

After he'd learned of everything Akemi had been through at the school she'd been trapped in, he completely understood. It still hurt though, and his hope of ever seeing her again began to break a little.

Suddenly the urge to touch her struck him and before he could think better of it, Sesshoumaru reached out to brush his fingers gently over her shoulder.

The Feral youkai turned to face him, red eyes fully open to look at him and his suspicion was confirmed. The youkai next to him, the female that had slumbered beside him was Akemi. Her face showed no recognition of who he was beyond simply knowing he was there. At least she didn't cringe away or snarl at him like the last time he'd seen her.

Perhaps, as Morenda had foretold the day Akemi disappeared in the wild, she had finally forgotten enough to where Akemi would allow his touch.

She closed her eyes and began to stretch out her limbs uncaring if he watched, and he did watch. He couldn't help himself. The way her skin rippled over muscle, the play of firelight in her pinkened hair was all too mesmerizing for Sesshoumaru to look away. Not that he could have made himself look elsewhere in any case, Akemi supplied the air he breathed and he'd been too long without her to take his eyes off her for a second. He almost feared she would disappear again if he weren't watching.

Akemi rolled to her side away from him and rose from the 'bed' on which they had slept. The moment her feet touched the floor she drew on a stained pair of pants that had seen better days.

These were not the clothes Akemi had last been seen in, Sesshoumaru noted as she moved to the other side of the fire. Then again, the clothes she'd worn that day had been torn and soaked in her own blood. It was only logical that they wouldn't have survived all the years she'd been gone, though he wasn't certain how she obtained more.

He couldn't see what she was doing on the other side of the fire. Sesshoumaru really couldn't even see her properly for that matter which was unacceptable to him at the moment. His body seemed to lack its natural grace of movement as he attempted to go where she was. His motions were strangely uncoordinated and frustrated him.

By sheer will power, he made it to his feet and three steps towards her before he began to fall.

Akemi caught him before the flames could touch him. She seemed surprised to see him on his feet and growled something at him he didn't understand.

Sesshoumaru sighed as she directed him back towards the nest of soft materials, her wild hair sliding over his skin softly. He had hoped the superstition that Ferals couldn't talk was unfounded. It would have been nice to talk to her. Talking could make hopes for a future a little bit more of a possibility.

He focused too much of his attention on his disappointment instead of on moving. This time when he began to fall he knocked her over too.

She made sure he landed mostly on the bed. Unfortunately her efforts to do that accidentally exposed her to the fire. She yelped as the heat bit into the unprotected pad of her foot and flames darting playfully up her leg. The pain had her jerking away from it instinctively and she all but landed on him.

When she began to whine in pain he dragged her back onto the padded surface with him and attempted to find the source. His clumsy efforts had her attempting to push him away.

"It is not bad," she growled low at him in protest when he finally got to the injury.

Sesshoumaru blinked up at her in surprise. "So you _can_ talk."

"If you call this speech," she snorted. "It is not bad, see. It is only a little red. It will be healed again by the time I need to hunt."

"If you could talk, why didn't you before?"

"Before what?" she scoffed. "And I did talk, fool. Non-Ferals just do not seem to understand true speech."

"What do you mean, you talked before? What true speech? I understand you fine now," Sesshoumaru was confused.

"Well, now I am in pain," she shrugged. "And true speech is the language of the wild youkai. Ferals speak it from the day they become Feral, but Non-ferals are seemingly incapable, possibly because you've filled your heads with this nonsense."

"So you're saying Ferals can talk when they're in pain," Sesshoumaru tried to get a true grasp of what she was telling him. It made no sense. If Ferals could talk when they were in pain, then why did none of them beg the Exterminators to stop from killing them?

"No, I'm saying I can speak the nonsense language when I am in pain," she clarified as she once again left the comfort of the bed.

"You should stay off that foot," he advised.

She growled something low and frustrated in his direction.

"You can't have healed that fast," Sesshoumaru watched her curiously.

"I said, I think I liked you better sick," she grumbled as she returned with the reason for getting up in the first place.

"I was ill?"

"For many moons," she nodded and held up a berry for him to eat. "Though I am grateful I will no longer have to pre-chew your food."

Sesshoumaru's ears burned at the thought. He reached out and captured her occupied hand. "Why would you go to such trouble?" Maybe, she remembered him, or perhaps she desired him in his own right.

She shrugged, "You were not meant to starve."

Sesshoumaru studied her pensively. She recognized something, or responded to it, he decided but she hadn't bothered to identify the reason or answers behind it. Nor, it seems, did she care to find out. She was now a creature driven by instinct and feeling with no inclination to question her motives.

"Eat," she commanded as she freed her hand from his grip.

"You must know that holds no nutritional value for me," Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"Yes," she nodded. "But it does carry water. And you need it."

He stared at her stunned that she would know that.

"Eat," she ordered him again. And like an obedient pup, he opened his mouth and took in the berry. "Do not look so surprised. I am Feral, not stupid. We do not completely forget things just because we choose not to think of them."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously between berries.

"Look upon this nest," she gestured to the bed beneath them. For the first time he noticed what it was made of: clothes, multiple garments of various shapes, colors and sizes. "What you see on top covers everything beneath. You do not see the rest, but that does not mean it is not there. It does not just disappear from the world because you cannot see it." She fed him another berry. "Memories are the same. We may not call on them, may suppress them, block them out, but that does not mean they are gone. Memories do not just leak out of our ears as we sleep."

"Then you must remember me," he murmured as he stared at her hopefully.

She tilted her head to consider him. "Remember you where? How? In what way? Perhaps you refer to before I was Feral," she pondered aloud. "Memories from before the forest are suppressed, dim, and mostly out of reach. What good would going Feral be if you still remembered what drove you to it in the first place?"

"I-" he began to protest, the reconsidered. "You're right. Do you even know my name?"

She blinked at him slowly, setting aside the last of the berries as he lay back wearied and disheartened. She reached out and brushed his hair to the side before laying to rest beside him.


	6. Ch 5 Perils for Ferals

Pardon my _slight_ tardiness, but moving entails more than simply moving stuff from one place to the other. I've spent all day unpacking and cooking for the week ahead. It's a slow process, but I'm determined to get most of it done as soon as possible. The sooner I can get my dog.

WE get to see how a Feral Akemi and a healing Sesshoumaru deal with their situation and each other in this chapter. Not a great deal of action yet, but then I warned you this story wasn't particularly action oriented.

standard disclaimers apply, if you recogonize it from TV, Movie, or literature (official literature) it isn't mine. What you've never seen anywhere else under somebody else's name, well that's wholy mine. don't you wish you were me.

**Perils for Ferals**

She crouched low in the brush, taking extra care not to disturb the fallen leaves on the ground. She didn't want to disturb her prey just yet. She had to be closer to guarantee a successful hunt.

The old, scarred buck was just the sort of prey she needed and it was lucky to happen upon him so quickly in her excursion from the den. One of his antlers was missing a few points and his hide had been torn into rather effectively in some recent lost battle. The buck was past his prime, beyond his rein as a breeding male. He would make for several fine meals.

Of course he was still quick and dangerous. There was no denying that, and despite the recovering male in her den worrying about the risk, she knew she needed to take this deer down. She was feeding two, storing up to feed more and small prey simply wouldn't supply the meat needed to do it.

Yes, the non-feral male had finally begun to recover, was finally on the mend. And she'd never thought he could be more annoying than when he'd unconsciously refused to get better. But he was annoying in a way that wasn't really annoying, if that was even possible.

She had to fight with him to get him to eat his fill. She knew he was weak. She knew he needed the energy but he tried to hold off, to hold back for whatever reason his foolish non-feral mind had come up with. Perhaps he thought if he didn't eat as much she wouldn't hunt for the bigger game. He was wrong of course. It wasn't just him she was planning to feed.

The argument was, obviously, incredibly difficult for them to conduct as she had lost her ability to speak his nonsense language when her burn had healed, seven days ago. It was rather amusing watching him trying to catch what she said though. He even tried to speak the true speech sometimes, but he was always off, just missing what he desired to convey. Sometimes it seemed to her that he was trying too hard. The language was there, beneath the surface of the civilized veneer non-ferals held up as making them better than the wild youkai. She mentally snorted. She'd like them to find _one_ wild youkai who had been driven Feral before trying to declare their so-called "primitive" cousins inferior.

With careful, silent motions she stalked closer to the quiet deer.

Another thing about her non-feral guest, he watched her. Constantly. It made her exceedingly nervous sometimes. At times she was amused by it, but always his vigilance confused her. It was almost as if he were attempting to drink her in, sucking her image deep inside where it couldn't escape. Which was a silly thing to attempt, eyes were not normally used for drinking anything in.

At first she'd tried to liken his constant watching to the constant watching pups did as soon as they opened their eyes, as if they were studying how to move so that they would know how themselves. But his watching wasn't like that. He knew how to move, despite his current lingering clumsiness.

What really amused her was his insistence upon remaining clothed from the waist down. He acted as if seeing him naked could offend her or offended him, which was laughable. But at the same time it wasn't. Him being naked and awake was different from him being naked and unconscious. Awake, he reacted to things. Awake, he moved at odd movements. Seven days later she was still getting used to his new quirks.

It astounded her to find out that he easily became aroused by the sight of her body despite the lack of a heat scent. There was no reason for such reactions. Rutting was for procreation only. It seldom was successful; the process often deadly for the female preventing even conception, but that was the root purpose of rutting. Without any indication of her fertility, he shouldn't be reacting…should he? Then again, she found her own body reacting to his at times. It almost felt like the onset of heat, but that was impossible. Her fertility cycles were regularly a yearly thing and it had not been a year since her last one.

Something caught the buck's attention for he raised his head to study the woods around him and she held perfectly still. It wasn't her the deer had heard, but a bird taking flight, fleeing a fellow bird on the hunt. The winged predator was no threat to an antlered animal three times its size so the buck lowered its guard and she once again resumed her work.

Generally she dismissed both the reactions of her body and the non-feral male's as well. It wasn't a threat to her as he never moved on it, more often he tried his hardest not to touch her and he made a great study of her feet. Though she couldn't imagine that her feet were truly worthy of such attention. They were regular feet, a bit smaller than his perhaps, but like enough he could study his own and get as much out of it.

She never felt trapped by him and his closeness. The pressure of his eyes didn't make her feel threatened or wary. She felt nervous of him true, but not in a way that she feared he would hurt her. Which was absurd as he was the instrument of her death, but that wasn't his fault.

Carefully she watched the deer, which really meant she watched everything around the buck for he would bolt if he felt her eyes directly on him.

She had her goals for her male houseguest. She still expected him to leave once he had his full grace back, a non-feral had no business living in the wilds, least of all a non-feral who could never go Feral if he wanted to. They lacked the required edge needed for survival, but she doubted he would go home like he should. So she planned to teach him the hunt, which would help her so long as he chose to stick around.

She was working to store up a lot more than she ever had before. She wasn't certain as to what would come next, but she was determined that death would not be invited to her den by a lack of food. It may be useless effort, but it wasn't in her to give up or sit still unless death already had its hands resting on her body. Just because her time as a Feral living in the forest had exceeded that of everyone else currently sharing this neck of the woods did not mean she had to lie down and accept death. Not yet.

No other Feral she'd ever met would accept it lying down either. It was what made them Feral, the refusal to allow whatever defeated them to break them completely. She would not submit to death until she saw it, felt its hands on her and knew without doubt that she could not fight it. The Ferals who lived longest were the ones smart enough to plan ahead.

Which was why she was currently trying to get as close to the buck as possible before it ultimately bolted. It would bolt; there was no question of that. The goal was to be close enough that the chase was short and swiftly concluded. The longer the animal ran in the wilds, the more likely to draw unwanted attention. It would be difficult enough to bring down the deer on her own without having to fight off competition for the meat when she was done.

A hunt was never easy and it was never safe. That was part of the thrill, part of the meal almost. There was a something in the uncertainty of success. It was in the hunt where a Feral brushed closest to the reality of luck's importance in their lives. Skill could only get you so far. If prey fails to appear, you starve. If others hunt the same prey, you might die or again starve. If some other animal spooks the prey too early, you starve. It is the way of the wild.

If she could get close enough to the old buck, she could wound it before it bolted, it would greatly shorten the chase. It was possible she could even kill it, but she preferred to give it a running chance. She always did, so long as it wasn't too much of a chance. She did want to eat after all, and it wasn't just her to feed anymore either.

The moment was right; the deer was close. She leapt at it with claws extended and the chase was on.

Sesshoumaru's breath puffed slightly out as he moved his way through the mobility exercises every fighting instructor he'd ever had insisted he practice before each lesson and match. He'd always found them, the instructors and their exercises, a bit annoying but he was finding use for them now.

His long illness may not have been capable of wasting his musculature the way it would in a human, but the body needed regular conditioning to move properly. It was a difficult thing to not be able to move as he was used to. Especially when he feared to be seen as a burden.

There were so many things about this situation that he didn't like. If he were stronger, he could maybe prove his ability to help protect her. Unfortunately, things being as they were, if he were stronger there was no guarantee she wouldn't just up and disappear on him. He'd never heard even rumors of a Feral living in company with anyone. It was surprising that she had even bothered to care for him at all. She couldn't possibly have needed the extra burden, as he couldn't have helped but be while he was ill.

Then again, there weren't exactly great studies made about Ferals. There was no factual knowledge about their living habits or communal relationships if there even were any. Nobody had ever bothered to find out.

Everything he knew was based on hearsay, and he had very little faith in popular superstition. After all, Akemi hadn't killed him already, something the common perception believed to be the first course of action in a Feral. Attack first, that was the accepted Feral way.

Being around Akemi these last few days, Sesshoumaru was beginning to question such thinking. Not that he'd ever put a lot of faith in the intelligence of the general public in the first place, but it had been all that he knew about Ferals. He was starting to think the stories about Ferals were based on gross, willful misunderstanding of Ferals thrust into the world's purview by developers destroying sections of the wild and displacing the abused youkai that had run to them for shelter and hiding.

If you cornered a wild animal, it would panic and fight ferociously in self-defense. If you starved it by cutting into its food chain, it moved into areas it normally would have avoided in desperate need for food. A Feral was only different in the power behind its ferocity.

Living in the forest was hard enough without somebody cutting into it.

Sesshoumaru rested briefly as his limbs hummed with exertion. He wasn't done yet. Each day he tried to do a little bit more. The last thing he wanted was for his female host to take offense at his failing to finish the healing that she had started. She had endangered herself to keep him alive; he didn't want to even think about taking it for granted.

He was certain his gender alone put him on thin ice with her. The rumors about Feral males were specific enough and well supported by evidence. Non-feral males felt the urge to procreate strongly enough that youkai parents betrothed their daughters at a young age both to protect their child, and to prevent incidents of near feral violence from society males. It was hardly a leap of faith to imagine Feral males, who certainly lacked a female partner the moment they were declared Feral, would regress to near mindless and violent rutting practices. The incidents towards non-feral females were numerous enough to suggest a deficiency in the number of Feral females to fill the roll. And the percentage of such incidents being fatal suggested the lacking number of Feral females might have to do with the probability that most died during the rut.

Most took this as comforting. If Ferals couldn't breed successfully then they couldn't multiply in the natural way. Sesshoumaru had never seen it that way. Ferals hadn't always been Feral. Ferals being unable to breed, to know positive companionship, seemed a steep punishment for youkai who were already victims. They hadn't exactly chosen to be abused to the point of going feral in the first place.

Such was life though. And Sesshoumaru had long ago given up on mass intelligence. Most youkai failed to see through his deception after years of acquaintance when a single six-year-old girl had managed to do so within five minutes of meeting him. Akemi wasn't exactly a super genius with legendary powers of perception. What did that say for all the full-grown fools who failed to see what she had?

Of course that was before she went Feral and he refused to continue to perpetuate the ruse. He cared not what his father thought. He saw no point in impressing fools with his stoicism and strength anymore. The opinions of others had only mattered to him in how they could recommend him to Akemi. Now that Akemi would no longer care, neither did he.

Sesshoumaru took a deep breath as he moved from stretching exercises to rhythmic movement. His body was relearning how to move. Alternating between rhythmic and stretching exercises helped prevent injury as he attempted to return to what he once was.

It was ridiculously slow going, to his frustration. He wanted to be up and running beside her on the hunt. Instead he was still relearning how to walk without falling.

No, Akemi wouldn't be doing a background check on him in the wild. The only way to recommend himself to her was by his own actions, his personal behavior. And he feared he was coming up lacking. If he failed to be useful in someway then he was useless, a burden. A Feral with the burden of feeding more than herself he imagined was quite quickly a dead Feral.

Feeding more than one mouth required greater exposure to danger. Every step Akemi took outside of her den left her vulnerable to other Ferals, other predators, and wild youkai. Bigger prey drew more competition. Sesshoumaru was no fool. Without him here, she could hunt smaller game. She could hunt less often.

If he were back to his regular strength he could hunt for her. Or at least for himself. Then again, if he were back to his full grace and strength he just might find himself abandoned, returned to the empty wasteland of soul and spirit that was his life without his alpha.

He couldn't fail to get better lest Akemi look ill upon him and wash her hands of him. But he was almost afraid to regain all of his strength, his capability and grace for the possibility of the very same outcome. The only difference was, if she left him after he'd fully healed, it would take longer for him to fall back into the state in which she'd found him in the first place.

There was no chance he would be able to track her down. Without scent, without youki she left him nothing to follow, and she knew her forest better than he did. She knew where to hide and how best to lose a hunter. If she did not want to be found, Sesshoumaru would never find her.

For all he knew, she could be leaving him right now.

Sesshoumaru growled at himself. Part of the reason he forced himself to perform his exercises while she was gone was to prevent just that sort of thinking. She had to hunt; he knew that. Hunting took time. He knew that as well. It still didn't making the uneasiness and the wait any easier to bear.

Unfortunately, his exercises didn't distract him nearly enough as his eyes wandered once more to the passage outside. Akemi's hunting trips didn't really take that long, at least not as long as he had believed it would usually take. Then again, he wasn't exactly certain as to when Akemi left her den each morning. He wasn't awake for her departure, but he did know about when to expect her back…and she was late.

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong and he didn't like being unable to do anything about it.


	7. Ch 6 Elusive Luck

I do apologize for not having this posted on time, but home computer is seemingly incapable of logging in to my account on . In fact, I am making this update from my lab at work. I don't like doing this, but the last chapter was a _bit_ of a cliffhanger. heheh, some of you complained quite a bit about it.

My puppy is on probation, meaning if we don't reach some sort of equilibrium by the end of the week I'll be giving her back. oh sad, yes, but I'm finding I lack the energy to keep up with a puppy. I wanted a dog to begin with, not a puppy anyway. Puppies are a lot more work.

Speaking of puppies...You all know of course the Takahashi's characters are not mine, but everyone else who isn't from the anime is mine to claim...and I do. Even the poor unfortunate, mostly crazy ones. Actually I'm particularly proud of the barely sane creations I put in my work. Sometimes they are way more rational than the sane ones.

enjoy the latest edition of W_ild_ and let me know what you think. The goal is to make you think after all!

**Elusive Luck**

Bad Luck.

Not the ultimate bad luck, but definitely not the good kind either. Good luck would have landed her the buck with a short chase and no interruptions from outside opportunists or interferences. That was not what happened.

Akemi cursed the buck. The blood seeping from her hip announcing to any in the forest who cared to look that she was damaged, as her fluent stream of quiet cursing would have given away in any case. Damn the fickleness of luck!

Of course some might consider bagging a buck and a wild boar in the same hunt a stroke of hugely great fortune, but she would rather have done without the pig. For the swine had not been her target and had it not been involved at all, her hide would have remained without holes. The damned animal had announced itself by goring her with its tusks. It was also very difficult to lug an entire dear and boar to the river for cleaning while lame in one leg. And it was impossible to do it quietly.

The only bit of luck even remotely good was a distinctive lack of outside involvement of a nature liable to kill, lay her out on her back, or remove all her bounty.

Of course she wasn't quite done for the day yet. Killing the boar had shed some light as to why it attacked her in the first place.

It had all happened because she went after that old buck. She should have known coming across such prime prey so early in a hunt was too good to end well, especially when it didn't bolt until she pounced. The chase that followed was swift and short in duration, her initial blow well placed for later work. Akemi brought it down in a miniature dale, shaded on both sides by ancient trees and closer brush that fed from the wooden victims of various storms. It was secluded and well hidden.

She had not been the only one to find it so, for it was also the entrance to a boar den. Before she was even aware of it, the frightened animal had charged at her, driving its tusks into the nearest available flesh.

Akemi had been kneeled beside the buck delivering the finishing wound when the boar attacked. The swine's tusks ripped through her pants and along her outer thigh, the angle thankfully sufficient to prevent more serious injury but still grievous enough to slow her down. She reacted quickly enough to avoid the second charge, jumping up and away from her kill to prevent the carcass from getting in the way. It would be counter productive to die over the buck she'd hunted to prevent starvation.

Unfortunately her move to put space between her and the startled animal had landed Akemi almost right on top of the den the beast was trying to protect. The den that held a litter of piglets.

There's nothing quite like the feeling that seeps through at the realization that she had been fantastically screwed by luck. The boar went from being merely distressed and wary into full-blown rage. Her potential threat to its offspring had become very real to the boar. It didn't matter that Akemi would never kill anything so young. It didn't matter she was here merely by chance. The situation was simple. She, a predator, was near the boar's young and therefore certainly out to harm them.

Akemi's was sickened by the thought of her second kill for the day. It was why she had to go back out after dropping her meat in the den. She had to do something about the litter. The wild was not kind to those who lived there. The little things could not survive on their own.

There was little chance that she could do anything for them, but she had to try. It was part of living with the forest.

Besides, she needed to make certain her trail was properly masked. Normally Akemi was fairly confident in her ability to cover her passing, but today her physical condition made her doubt. It would be stupid not to double-check it before holing up in her den to heal. Healing wouldn't do her any good if the secrecy of her den were so compromised.

She certainly hoped her non-feral companion was willing to cook the meat on his own because it was going to be a long time before she could bathe the rest of the blood from her skin and return.

Sesshoumaru almost wished he hadn't seen her when Akemi finally made it into the den burdened by far more meat than he'd ever seen her bother to carry home. And she was almost covered in blood, the quantity of her bounty having forced her to carry it in a manner that put her in the direct line of gravity to receive such drippings.

With a grunt, she wearily set about staking the meat out to cook over the flames, meticulously lightening her load a tiny bit at a time. It wasn't until most of it was crowding out the light that he noticed there were two types of meat being set out.

"Please tell me you didn't go hunting wild boar by yourself," he groaned. Hunting such prey was dangerous for an entire pack of youkai. Sesshoumaru had hoped Akemi, despite being Feral, would now better than to take on such a beast.

Akemi gave him a rather droll look. "I didn't go hunting wild boar by myself,' she answered blandly and he blinked. It had been days since he'd last heard anything from her that he could make any sense of. It took Sesshoumaru a minute to process this change.

It took another minute before the meaning of that sunk in. She was in pain. "What happened?" Sesshoumaru asked careful of his tone. It wasn't his right to interrogate her about anything. He very much doubted she would put up with him if he attempted to drag it out of her. Currently, she was looking after him, not the other way around.

"It is the luck of the wilds," Akemi grunted dismissively, finally free of the excess weight. She limped closer to where he rested on her makeshift bed. Carefully she sifted through the various garments on the far side from her houseguest.

Sesshoumaru watched her minutely, trying to discern where the blood was hers. He slowly shifted closer to get a better look at the leg she was favoring.

Finally, Akemi found what she sought and began tearing a somewhat gauzy garment into strips beside a wadded up small white shirt that look about child size. The shirt wasn't exactly the cleanest, but it didn't matter at the moment. She just needed something to staunch the bleeding until she reached one of the local hot springs, then she would want something cleaner. That was all in due time, she had much to do before she got that far and it was possible her wound would clot before she did. The river was her first stop, then her back trail, and the litter of piglets. Only after all that was done would she get to go for the hot spring.

"Here let me do that," Sesshoumaru finally found the wound seeping along her outer thigh. "This really should be cleaner," he muttered as he finished tying it off. With this new injury, Sesshoumaru resolved to take care of her until she was better, only to blink in surprise when Akemi immediately moved to leave once again. "You should stay off that leg!"

She turned and leveled a flat look his way. "It would be unwise to stay in the den covered in blood. The scent is not easy to control, nor hide. It will draw predators, scavengers, wild youkai and Ferals faster than honey draws ants."

"But your-"

"The safety of a den is only as certain as the secrecy of its location. There can be nothing to draw danger here," Akemi cut him off. "Not a trace of travel here, not a dripping trail of blood, and not a wisp of scent, nothing can be allowed to remain if we desire to sleep in safety. I am not confident, in my current condition, that I have successfully masked my passage here."

"It's your condition that dictates you should stay here," Sesshoumaru argued. He didn't like for her to face the wilds at anything less than her best. It went against his instinct as her male.

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Trapped and defenseless? You wish us both to die?" Akemi turned back to the exit. Sesshoumaru reached out and caught her arm forcing her to pause. "What good is catering to an injury if death is left an open invitation to come for me?" She demanded sharply. "I know the injury is bad. I know it slows me down and makes me an easy mark, but what good is surviving the wound if I have no place to live after or even during the healing?"

Sesshoumaru blinked at her words. He hadn't though of it that way.

"I am Feral. I live with the forest. I am a part of and confined by the way the wilds are," Akemi declared firmly. "I know how to survive here and I do my best to help others do the same."

In other words, she was asking him to trust that she knew what she was doing and was trying to protect him while she was at it.

In the days that he'd been aware of her movements she never did what he expected her to. Sesshoumaru had been surprised to note how clean she insisted on being. He wouldn't have thought such cleanliness would be something a Feral would hold with, but it appeared Akemi bathed when she cleaned the meat and then again after she set it to cook. She would leave and return again with wet hair and a breath of sulfur to precede her. He still didn't know what she did with the extra meat she brought home.

"I'm coming with you," he declared firmly. The was she was moving, the danger of her not returning at all increased and he could not stand to sit her and wait for her to return again.

Akemi sighed, "the meat will burn."

"I like burnt meat," Sesshoumaru dismissed her words petulantly before he realized she hadn't told him no. "What?"

She shook her head and began moving the meat farther from the dancing flames. "Lets not waste meat that cost so much," she muttered. "This is going to take even longer."

Sesshoumaru flushed at the implication that _he_ would slow her down even with her injured leg. He was not used to being the weak link, but truthfully that's what he was. He didn't know the wilds like she did, he hadn't had to survive in them the way she had. That was without still recovering from his illness.

Akemi finished repositioning the meat before once again rising to leave. "When we are outside, we run silent. There is not much noise in the forest this time of year to cover us. You follow my lead and stick close. I will try to hide your scent as well as mine, but you will need to remain close for it to be most effective. Touch as little as possible; your scent will cling to things despite my hiding it. Do not reach out to sense things, for if you can sense them, they can sense you." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Make yourself, your presence, as small as possible." Akemi turned back to the forest. "We head to the river first."

She limped out into the open with Sesshoumaru following immediately upon her heals, his first excursion beyond the den after his waking.


	8. Ch 7 Hunter's Prey

Finally, I'm managing to post something on time. *sigh*

my puppy is turning out to be something of an escape artist so my hands are getting all torn up with my efforts to brick up her escape routes -(which doesn't do any good if somebody doesn't latch the gate properly. And that wasn't me. My neighbor let her out earlier and didn't latch the gate back up behind them, so I - unknowingly - let my puppy out into a yard that wasn't quite locked up for the night. argh. oh yeah, I'm having all kinds of fun with this... you bet.

ON another note, the writing is coming along V.E.R.Y. slowly. I know I've said this before, but I doubt any of you realize just what I mean. The themes I have to work with are nightmares to deal with in real life let alone put them into words on paper. I must be some kind of masachistic...that's the only explanation. And worse this thing just looks like it's going to be longer and longer evertime I look at what I have to do yet. So discouraging. I bet Rumiko Takahashi probably felt this way a few times. AFter all, her bunch of characters are just so hard to keep track of let alone keep straight as to which is privy to what. I do not envy her that...What am I talking about. My stories are just that bad sometimes too! ARGH!

ah well, the more difficult it is to write the greater the achievement seems once it's done, hmm?

**Hunter's Prey**

Sesshoumaru watched as Akemi kicked off her soggy, stained garments upon their return to her den. She used a great deal more energy than the action typically warranted or her injury could (in his opinion) reasonably sustain.

They had already been out on her errands to the river and farther into this gnarled woodland that made up Akemi's branch of the wilds than he believed they'd had reason to go. He honestly had no idea where they had gone in relation to where her den was. And the claustrophobic feel of the trees standing almost unnaturally soundless had greatly unnerved him.

Akemi had not been exaggerating when she warned him the forest was silent, for even the wind held its breath to keep from breaking the quiet today. Leaves failed to rustle. Animals had nothing to forage for it seemed. Sesshoumaru could sense no sound beyond his own breathing.

He couldn't even hear Akemi once outside the den and she kept within arms reach of him at all times.

Watching Akemi move in this hidden shrine of nature's brutality, he couldn't help but notice how much she was a part of it. How it seemed a great extension of her presence. She moved, more silent than the still air, fluid as water through his fingers despite her injury, terrifyingly capable of disappearing right under his nose. So instead of noting down land marks and other possible directional aids that would help him find his way back to the den, he'd kept his eyes on her.

That element of her existence, the ability to drop out of the thin air in front of him, was in evidence even now, safe inside her den. Sesshoumaru watched as she carefully bent to check on the meat they'd left roasting during their seemingly pointless sojourn into the great beyond.

He'd understood their brief trip to the river to wash the crimson tide from her coated skin. As she'd explained it, blood once dripped from her body would begin to emit traceable scent and it was wise to wash it off before going anywhere. He'd understood that. And it even made sense to back track from the river to the den in order to check for any such spots dotting the trail.

What hadn't made any sense from any view he could imagine was their excursion beyond the river back to the spot where she had taken down the animals. Surely, eliminating all tracks from river to den would be enough. All paths lead to water eventually. That was the way of life, as every creature requires some amount of the aqueous substance to survive. And the water itself would hide much in the way of scent.

It should have been enough, especially when she was so injured.

Apparently, he was wrong.

The spot where she had realized the culmination of her hunt had been incredibly obvious to him long before he saw anything of the residual life left by two beasts whose lives had been unwillingly ended. The scent of it was a sharp note splayed against the silence and subtle uniformity of the forest. There had been no effort to hide it of course. Why should there have been?

Something about it had unnerved Akemi though. Against her own rules, she motioned him to stay back as she entered the dense foliage that blocked his view. Sesshoumaru never did see what he had been able to smell. But what ever Akemi had seen had not been what she'd expected.

Akemi had come back into view subtly altered.

Sesshoumaru hadn't been able to place what was different about her until they made it back to the den after another stop at the river for Akemi's third dunking in the frigid waters. It was then he'd been able to identify her anger. For the first time since he had awakened in her den Akemi was truly pissed. And he had no idea why.

Normally Sesshoumaru hated to be so out of the loop when it came to such vital information. The Akemi he had grown up with didn't get angry for no reason and, though her emotions seemed a great deal more understated than they had been, he very much doubted that part of her character had changed.

In any other situation he would work to ferret out the necessary information at the earliest opportunity. This time, however, he had more pressing issues to take care of.

The first thing Akemi should have down the moment they returned was not checking the meat by the fire. Rather she should have moved to the cloth nest and gotten off her injured leg. The faster the better. But he couldn't just order her to it. Sesshoumaru was still the barely tolerated guest after all. So he had to be subversive.

The plan was simple. If Akemi moved to pitch their food a bit closer to the flames, he moved all the other stakes around the fire before she had the chance. If she attempted to lay out her clothing to dry, he got their first. And with every effort he made in which it was clear he had taken over each task he took away something that kept her from lying down to rest properly.

Typically his plans were a bit more effective. Akemi simply wasn't cooperating with his labors at all. He had thought that after she had picked up what it was he was trying to accomplish, she would huff at him-or perform some other expression of annoyance-and go do what it was she was supposed to be doing. Instead, every time he took over a chore she had started, she found another to do. She didn't seem anymore or less angry by his actions so he had to assume a more direct approach was required.

As much of a risk forcing his Feral host to do anything against her will was, His first instinct as a Beta was to protect and care for his alpha regardless of how his actions would affect himself. An alpha was more integral to the health of a pack than any beta, hence why there were so few betas in the first place. But alphas sometimes put pack needs before their own so much it was detrimental to their personal health. This is what Betas were for. To care for their chosen alpha and protect them from their overly self-sacrificing nature. It was also why betas were so precious to alphas in a pack.

She may not know it, but she was his chosen alpha, always had been. And as such, Sesshoumaru was going to see to it she rested properly. Even if so doing landed him abandoned by her once again. And while he was at it, he could find out what had inspired her angry behavior in the first place.

One thing at a time.

Sesshoumaru carefully seized Akemi with a clawed hand on either side of her waist and hefted her like a sack of potatoes over to their makeshift bed before firmly setting her down on her rump and keeping her there by simply refusing to let go. He was under no illusions that the moment he let her go she would be up once more doing whatever came into her head needed to be done.

Amazingly enough, his move did not seem to make her particularly angry with him. It was almost as if she didn't particularly care one-way or the other. Odd. She did not fight him; she didn't even growl her displeasure. Akemi must be exceedingly pissed.

"What is it that you saw?" Sesshoumaru asked firmly, not quite an interrogation, but a definite demand for words. "What has upset you so?"

"He slaughtered them," she growled in response. "That small-balled, half-bald, spotted –" her insult ended in a fierce growl he could only imagine was meant as an untranslatable slur against this mysterious male. "He has been in the wilds long enough to know the cardinal rule. Slaughter of young is foolish and wasteful. The piglets may not have survived regardless but Ferals do not kill them for any reason."

"What piglets?" Sesshoumaru was confused.

"The boar was defending its den and the young inside," she replied vaguely. "It attacked me and I killed it in defense. I wouldn't have touched it otherwise."

"Then why did the boar fear for its den?"

"The stupid dear." Akemi growled petulantly. If only she had passed up on the old buck. "It went down outside the Boar's den, alarming it."

"So we returned there because?" Sesshoumaru asked to be certain he was getting the picture.

"The piglets would not have survived on their own. Young that die today do not procreate later. To kill them now takes food out of your mouth later. It is great folly!" she growled again.

"Could you have done anything to help them?" Sesshoumaru asked. "Could you have taught them how to forage and hide, mate and survive?"

"Probably not," she shook her head, "but I would have tried." And that, it seemed, was the important point of the matter. She would have tried, not succeeded, but the attempt would have been made. He was coming to find Akemi's symbiotic relationship with her environment bordered on religious. She believed the forest was a live and chose to give or take in the ways of fate and luck. Very similar in concept anyway.

He let the topic of saving piglets slide for the moment, or rather Sesshoumaru decided to address a side topic. "Who is 'he'?"

Akemi shifted her gaze briefly to glance up at him. "He is the hunter."

Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise. Was someone poaching on his father's property? No one was allowed to so encroach upon Akemi's haven.

"He is a male Feral," Akemi continued after a moment. "The strongest and oldest in the forest. Mainly because he killed the rest." It was obvious what she thought of that. She did not admire the youkai for his past proofs of strength. "Normally Ferals do not keep track of each other, but it is given that males have grown fewer since his coming. He hunts them for sport. He tracks them down only for the kill. He holds with no need for those who are proven weaker."

That told Sesshoumaru why she felt distaste for this "hunter". Being inu, it was in her to protect those weaker than herself within her pack. Living without an actual pack didn't take those instincts from her make up. Inu typically wouldn't kill just to kill. They defend that which is their own and kill only to eat. This male behaved somewhat against this type of behavior.

"Few years back, when he ran out of other males to take out he started hunting females," Akemi shook her head.

"Does he kill them out right?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"That is not his goal for hunting us," Akemi brushed his grip aside and stared past him into the fire. "Though some do not survive their encounter with him, it is not due to his intention to kill them."

"He desires to breed," Sesshoumaru's gut clenched. It was sounding as if Akemi had already met this male once.

"Yes," she agreed. "He seeks out dens, the better to catch a female in season." Hence why she had been so adamant about going back out.

"Has he hunted you?" he had to ask.

Her gaze turned sharply to study his face. "Two seasons ago I shook him off in the miko phantom's territory. She maimed him and he diverted his attention to other flesh for a time."

"A feral you knew?"

"I helped her birth that summer," she laid back wearily. "He switched back to me after he caught her again. She did not survive this time."

"So the piglets…" Sesshoumaru began.

"Were a warning and a sign," she finished. "Though he may not have thought so at the time. I am now the oldest female in the area. He believes I would be the most likely to survive him long enough to produce and nurture his brood." Akemi snorted, "He probably believes it would be an honor he is bestowing upon me despite the fact I would only be tempted to allow him close enough to touch during my heat."

Sesshoumaru blinked. He had forgotten youkai females suffered through heat. In youkai society there were herb concoctions and tinctures used to tone down and even eliminate the intense urgings of fertile periods. Some of the more expensive ones could even tone down the amount of pheromones produced. The only time a female underwent a season without the use of such aids was by choice in order to conceive. A Feral in the wilds would have no access to such things. They would be forced to suffer through the full brunt of it and it sounded like Akemi, at least, would really rather live without it.

She had risked much by bringing him into her den. This was probably her sanctuary when even her hormones turned into her enemies, and she had allowed him into it.

Sesshoumaru couldn't prevent her hunter from tracking her down, but he could help prevent the beast from ever being successful in catching her under the urgings of her heat. "If you have need to use my body for anything…" he trailed off. There was no elegant way to end his offer. But then, Akemi was Feral, these words were not her normal mode of communication. Who's to say she would care if his words were elegant or not. "If you have need to use my body for anything, feel free to do so."

The look she gave him was fairly odd, but not off-putting in any case and he felt his offer had not been taken badly.


	9. ch 8 Half Aware

lalala...

what to put here?

OH! I have decided I will not be posting next week. Why, you ask? Well...that's none of your business! heheh, just kidding. I'm going out of town next weekend for my Birthday and as I won't be back until possibly Tuesday I figured I might as well just skip it. I'm running low on Chapters waiting to be posted anyway.

So yeah, that's about it besides the applicable disclaimers and whatnot. Enjoy!

**Half-Aware**

She lay uncomfortably on her side, as it was the only position in which her body did not somehow pull at the torn muscle and skin of her outer thigh. It wasn't that the wound itself was overly painful or that she particularly feared the slight twinge she suffered in most the other positions that would risk further injury that bothered her though. It was the stiffness threaded throughout the rest of her muscles that left her so sore. Her companion wouldn't hear of her getting up again once he had planted her there earlier.

Her non-feral attendant was rather adamant about it actually. He seemed to act as if her injury was essentially life threatening, the threatened life being his, and she didn't quite understand it.

He could not feel her pain, could not feel the wound as if it were his own as he walked around. He was hardly suffering the lingering effects of his own slowly lessening weakness anymore. He was no longer susceptible to unbalanced stumbling that nearly landed him in the fire like during the first days after his awakening and his youki was beginning to dance through at every waking moment. It was delightful to watch, when he wasn't trying to coddle her.

Really the scrape wasn't that bad, but he wouldn't listen.

She smirked gently at the youkai resting beside her. It was kind of fun arguing with him in his own language about the extent of her energies. Living, as a Feral, was a mostly solitary existence, so it was rather pleasant to debate over pointless things. And she loved to flummox him. The look of utter confusion and surprise draped over his chiseled features was marvelously incongruous with the image she somehow sensed he was trying to promote. She delighted in the truth those moments pressed him to reveal.

Illusion simply did not work with Ferals, least not the type it appeared non-Ferals attempted to use. She could not be fooled by image alone for she saw with more than just her eyes. And while instinct could sometimes be confusing, it never lied.

He was not as secure in himself as he tried to pretend, though she didn't quite know why. His insecurity remained a mystery to her, as was the reason he tried to hide it, but she knew it was there. It was the reason she allowed him to bully her into lying still on her side while he saw to the meat under her direction. He seemed desirous of proving himself capable and useful to her.

Little did he know she already had a use for him and teaching him to fulfill it was her plan also. The more he tried to prove his knowledge and ability the better her understanding of what he needed to learn.

All that was for later, she breathed deeply of the den air, letting the familiar scents of it soak into the instinctive part of her brain. She wondered what he would say if he knew his scent was coming to be the most comforting among them, more so than the earthen smell of her den walls. Perhaps he would not feel so insecure.

She couldn't be certain. Ferals didn't have such confusing emotional insecurities. The youkai driven to the wilds either felt threatened or they didn't. She only cared for the safety of her body and all that went in to its keep, such as the secrecy of her den or pursuing the hunt despite its dangers. If a Feral was nervous it was because real bodily danger was involved. She was coming to learn non-Ferals compounded such simple matters.

They feared other hurts than the physical ones of injury and hunger. They worried about other things than food and shelter. It was enough to make her glad to be Feral, even if non-Ferals lived longer. What was the point of living longer if you suffered fear and worry every moment of it?

Then again, she did envy the societal youkai their offspring, the precious new life that couldn't survive in Feral hands.

The untamed wild youkai native to the forest could procreate also. Sometimes she wished she had been born wild, for wild youkai could also live longer than Ferals too. They lived in packs for support and safety. They didn't automatically fear every strange new thing to enter the wilds. What's more, wild youkai could be tamed, could be taken into that society she had fled from and could never return to. Even if she wanted.

She sighed wistfully, pausing her inner rumination over the benefits of being one way over another. It was something she had never pondered before, the benefits of being non-feral. Things simply were they way they always had been. She seldom thought of non-Ferals at all beyond the sudden proximity of the ones who used to visit her male in his unnatural waiting place. That is before she brought her non-Feral male into her den.

She never delved into her time before the forest, never wanted to. She still didn't, but she wondered about him, the stranger male that had sat seemingly in wait for her on the edge of her habitual hunting grounds.

Not that it mattered in the long and short of things. She carefully listened to his even breathing, comparing it to previous patterns before firmly concluding her companion's somnolent state. Finally, she could move.

It was actually kind of endearing the way he had fussed over her in an annoying sort of way, but she really needed to stretch. Her joints were aching from the awkward position. Her bed was round and higher along the edges to keep the draft out. Consequently sleeping or lying in it on her side was uncomfortable unless she was curled up, which he hadn't allowed. Silly inu.

Of course moving and keeping her companion unconscious would be something of an adventure in itself as once asleep he gravitated to her like always. It was intriguing the way he always cuddled her in his sleep no matter where he started the night's rest. What really struck her as odd was how he never failed to let go and move away from her again a bit before he woke each morning. He was still close, of course, but no longer touching at those times. Yet another thing about him she just didn't understand.

Just like she couldn't understand how he failed to remember anything from before waking up in her den at the end of his illness. At least he claimed he didn't. She wondered if there was some sort of barrier keeping his instinctual memory from his conscious mind. It would explain why gong Feral was such a relief if it blocked recollection both ways. Sort of a fail-safe mechanism. If one side was too damaged to function the other kicked in to maintain the living system. It was an imperfect definition of what a Feral was, but it did explain a few things.

Carefully, she extracted his arm from where it draped over her side. It was strange to think how a year ago she never would have allowed such a touch. To have something draped over you was too much like a cage most of the time, especially if it could impede freedom of movement. In the beginning she had been able to dismiss his attempts to hold her because he was too weak to effectively trap her that way. Now she supposed she was just used to it from him. There was no doubt in her mind that if anyone else attempted it they would quite probably die from it or at least lose the arm.

Just as she was successfully putting his arm down gently beside him his hand snapped around her grip to latch onto her forearm solidly. She jumped in surprise, her eyes darting to his previously slumbering face only to find his reddened eyes staring back at her questioningly. In a soft growl he demanded explanation of her.

In answer she stretched out one of her legs so he could hear the audible sounds the joints made. His clamped claws loosened a bit, her movements being somewhat self-explanatory. She carefully rolled to stretch the other leg determined to get all the kinks out. When she moved to climb to her feet his grip reasserted itself on her arm.

He growled at her to stay down and she growled back at him to let go. She needed to stretch and she couldn't safely do it lying down. Forcefully, she pried his fingers from her arm gifting them both with a number of incidental claw marks in the process. She had absolutely no compunction about ignoring his fussing when he was like this, when his eyes matched hers for blood content. He wasn't Feral; she didn't for a moment think he was despite how odd it was that he showed such eyes. Non-Ferals could have such eyes when they were angry, in mortal peril, or carnally excited.

This situation simply didn't fit into any of those categories. She wasn't giving off pheromones he could scent, he was safe in her den, and he had been sleep, so very likely he didn't feel the anger required for the third possibility. It was just odd. She studied him pensively as she stretched out every limb and muscle from the advantage of height. There almost wasn't room standing on her cozy nest of soft cloths. She could touch the dirt over her head if she reached straight up.

She would rather have liked stepping off the bed to the floor so she could stretch straight up all the way helping to loosen her back and shoulder, but the first attempt to step away found two clawed hands clamped about her waist. She growled in good-humored annoyance, but let him stop her. It was reassuring to see such traits carry through the whole of who he was.

Perhaps if she thought of it using her theory that going Feral or showing red eyes was a fail-safe mechanism, then she might be able to explicate this situation. His everyday behavior and personality wasn't exactly damaged, but he was healing from long term illness, exhausted and determined to take care of her. He had to be conscious of the fact he had yet to remain awake longer than she of an evening and not once had he woken before her. He had to have known he couldn't needlessly tend to her once unconscious and worried about it sufficiently to engage the failsafe. He probably couldn't intentionally initiate it, but if he was unconsciously anxious enough, the need deemed dire enough, his instinctive side could rise to his aid.

This theorizing made it seem as if taking care of her was an extremely important task for her non-feral appendage, at least in his eyes anyway. She didn't know what to make of that possibility. To be the central reason of someone else's existence was a bit daunting to imagine let alone fulfill. She wasn't positive she wanted her theory to be right. Then again, she wasn't certain she wanted to be wrong either. Enough thought on the subject in any case.

She tapped a feminine claw on his hand and gave him a point look, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead his attention seemed to be focused on the flesh between his hands. Slowly he raised himself up until his nose was practically pressed against her abdomen. He was searching for something and began to whine when he couldn't find it. She sucked her teeth at him knowing he probably wouldn't understand the gesture.

He glanced up at her with a gentle growl before adjusting his hold about her waist. He was now more towards her wounded side and she definitely didn't like it.

She began to make serious efforts to remove him from her person altogether. She may have been fine with his proximity and clinging habits, but no creature in the wild would be easy having even a minor threat near a vulnerable area. For a Feral, everyone and everything was a threat, even non-feral males who weren't in their right minds.

In the end she did calm, she did settle because what he did wasn't painful. It actually felt good. When he dragged his moist tongue gently over the ruptured skin things wholly unconnected to where she was wounded seemed to feel it. She practically melted from the excess warmth emanating from his touch. She knew his efforts would aid in her healing, but she had not expected him to go that far. And she had not expected it to be enjoyable.

Even out of his head, he was exceedingly meticulous about her care and assuredly gentle. He was always surprising her with pleasure when she should have felt pain. It was enough to make a Feral want to keep him.


	10. Ch 9 Dream Interrupted

Well, and how did you do with your break in the reading schedule?

I am a bit sorry about leaving you guys hanging and all, but I rather enjoyed my break and my puppy had a blast getting spoiled by my second family for the first time. She's like their grandpuppy. (They're practicing for future grandkids...or so we joked anyway.)

Oh I'm so sore. We went Spelunking on my birthday and it was all up and down hill for 3/4 of a mile.

In this chapter, I break into the private world Sesshoumaru and Akemi have so far been wrapped up in. I've sort of already widened their world, but this time I allow people to intrude. They can't just stay in one place after all. (even though they do in this chapter) In order for things to happen change must occur. I don't do stagnation. Their Situation was primed for something to happen. And so, in this chapter, it starts.

AFter all, just how long did Rumiko Takahashi allow things to go all peacefull and calm in the orginal series?

...oh and a Youkai Phone was explained a bit in **_Feral._** So it's not really new, but it is a device of my own inventions sort of inspired by behaviors I've seen played with in other fanfics. Ones where youkai are generally violent upon being seriously startled by a common personal cell phone. I remember one fic had Sesshoumaru throwing them out windows and such more than once. bit high strung you know. Then again, when you're constantly listening and focusing on monitoring your surroundings for threats a Sudden electronic noise could set off just about anyone.

**Dream Interrupted**

The jarring feel of a Youkai Phone demanding answer had never been a particularly pleasant sensation. That was an intended part of the design. A call would certainly be easier to ignore if the built in attention grabbing mechanisms were less uncomfortable. Sounds alone weren't nearly annoying enough and the only buyers for the phones usually _needed _their calls to be received.

The Phones were generally so expensive only the most elite of youkai society could afford one. And usually that was one per family. To have more than one was a true sign of wealth and extravagance (one most of the exceptionally wealthy of the nouveau riche decided against. The Phones were _that_ annoying.) The only youkai families likely to own more than one were the four cardinal clans, one for the current ruler and one for the heir.

Sesshoumaru had hated the thing since the moment he'd been awarded the dubious honor of having to carry it with him at all times. It was the one edict delivered by his father that he'd regularly managed to break. Most often he left the phone several rooms away from him, forcing some other person to answer it.

Unfortunately, Akemi's den did not have rooms far enough away to prevent it tugging at his youki like a four-year-old demanding attention. He didn't have a chance; the minute it went off he was dragged through ten different layers of sleep. A fierce growl to his left capped the issue altogether. He was now in danger of throwing a toddler-like tantrum over an inanimate object getting him in trouble.

As if he needed anything else to worsen his mood. The very fact he was fighting to rouse himself from a deep sleep was enough, as it proved he had once again failed to remain awake longer than his injured companion. Something he had been trying to pull off in order to better tend her. Such frustration was only compounded by the piercing glare he opened his golden, sleep-crusted eyes to.

And the day was only set to get worse. He couldn't _find_ the damn Phone! He wasn't wearing his original clothing, hadn't since he came aware after his illness. Sesshoumaru hadn't a clue as to where the Phone was in the pile of garments on which they generally rested.

"You bring danger here," She accused him gruffly. Her red gaze never lifting from him as he flicked silk and cotton hurriedly out of his way, searching for the original garment that held the Phone in its pocket.

He wanted to curse Kagome for putting it in his pocket after she and Inuyasha visited his waiting spot the third time. Sesshoumaru knew she had intended for him to be able to call on them at need. It simply wasn't playing out like that right this moment. He did have a suspicion as to who the current culprit was though. "It's just a Phone," he tried to placate his companion.

When her glower didn't lighten in the slightest bit he realized a Feral might need more information before viewing the obnoxious device as harmless. Sesshoumaru sighed as he continued to dig for the stupid annoyance. He couldn't think well enough to give her the required explanations. He could only thank the fates at work that Kagome hadn't made the call. If she had, her personal little bursts of enraged miko power might have gotten him booted from the den immediately. Akemi might well have attacked him for it, now that he thought about it.

Youkai Phones weren't too particular about whose attention they grabbed. If the Phone was contacted any youkai in the area was battered with the demand to answer it. Hopefully there weren't any youkai currently passing outside the den. That last thought shed a lot of light as to why Akemi might be so pissed right now.

Finally he found the little device and slapped it open in front of him. A second later the communication window opened above it and Sesshoumaru was graced with the hardly unexpected image of his most annoying and foolish sire. This had better be good or he just may have to neuter his father at next meeting, especially if Akemi took the first opportunity to disappear after this little episode.

"Finally," the Taishou growled his impatience with his son. "What took you so long? I've been calling for the last fifteen minutes."

Sesshoumaru raised an expressive eyebrow at his father, the movement all the communication he needed. The Taishou's view of him would more than explain the delay as the Phone had been in an article of clothing he obviously wasn't wearing. As he was certain his father's impatience was not the true purpose of the call, he refused to entertain demands for unimportant details. The Phone had been answered, that was the important part.

"Don't look at me like that," the Taishou growled obstreperously. Sesshoumaru was certain the old youkai had gotten louder in the time since he'd last seen him. "I am your father and the Taishou. Show some respect…"

The old inu's tirade was likely to continue some minutes and hardly worth his attention, so Sesshoumaru allowed himself to be easily distracted by the movement he caught at the edge of his peripheral vision, behind the image of his father. The moment he realized Akemi was reaching out to touch the back of the image it was too late to stop her. It wouldn't damage her or anything, but he was uncertain of how she would react to the sudden zap of unfamiliar energy. She didn't yelp as he expected, but she did jump back and glare at him. He really couldn't win this morning.

"Sesshoumaru I'm talking to you," his father delivered the old standard line he was certain was written in stone somewhere way back in the first parenting manual. Somehow the old inu had managed to look beyond his efforts to scold his son and discern Sesshoumaru's attention was _not_ dutifully pinned on his most honorable and respectable sire. This did not serve to improve the Taishou's mood either. "Where are you, Sesshoumaru? I demand an answer."

With a growl of his own at his father's audacity in demanding anything of him after costing Sesshoumaru so much, he turned his annoyed gaze back on his father. "What do you want?" Maybe if he figured that out the call would end and he could go about soothing the Feral's wrath.

"Don't take that tone with me. I asked you where you are, Sesshoumaru," the Taishou was completely miffed now. He had thought that since Sesshoumaru had moved certainly his heir would be returning to his duty.

"And I declined to answer," Sesshoumaru replied wearily.

"You lead strangers here," Akemi accused him once more.

"They cannot find us," Sesshoumaru assured her.

"They can see here," she pointed out.

"But they do not know the way," Sesshoumaru sighed.

"Who are you talking to?" the Taishou demanded.

"Not you," Sesshoumaru declared shortly.

"Now listen here –"

"Who is that?" Akemi glanced around the side of the communication window where his father's face was beginning to turn purple in indignation. She still could not be seen in the view on the other end of the call so his father's inflated ideas of what he was due continued to stream from the Taishou's mouth unchecked.

"My father," Sesshoumaru grumbled softly. He was beginning to regret that very fact more than he ever had before.

"Is he rabid?" Akemi's brow rose ponderously. And Sesshoumaru nearly burst out in surprised laughter. He had never actually had anyone ask that question about his father. Even Feral, she truly was a treasure. She made no attempt to hide how unimpressed she was with the Taishou.

So far in the conversation the Inu no Taishou had been unable to see more than the back of her pink head, but he could hear just fine and he knew when he'd been seriously insulted. "Now see here, whoever you are, I am Inu –"

"Of course you're inu," the Feral female snorted as if all his noisy blustering was pointless and unimpressive…which was true as far as she was concerned. She gestured to Sesshoumaru as she turned to face the noisy, flickering image of his father. "This male is clearly pure inu, which tells me that his parents, bitch and sire, must also be inu themselves," she gazed at the sputtering inu with her scarlet eyes. "I am Feral, not stupid."

"Wha- Huh?" gaped the Inu Taishou. He certainly hadn't expected to see her, to hear her speak, or to find her even marginally coherent.

"_Is_ he rabid?" Akemi asked Sesshoumaru again. "I have seen prey animals froth at the mouth like that and know the symptoms to be associated with rabidity. Your father has displayed similar behavior. Can non-feral youkai catch such a disease?"

"You can't be serious," the Taishou remained flabbergasted at the situation.

"Why not?" Akemi asked him seriously. "In the short time that you have invaded my den, you have attacked your young, changed color, frothed at the mouth, and continued in the attack at every opportunity. These are not particularly sane behaviors, yet you are obviously not Feral. Therefore I can only assume that, sharing such symptoms as you do with the animals suffering such a disease, that you are Rabid."

"No I am not Rabid!" the Taishou blasted the line with frustrated, incredulous volume.

"I did not ask you," Akemi growled back. "Only a fool would ask a rabid creature if it was rabid. Rabid creatures cannot be counted on to realize their diseased state, unlike Ferals, their reasoning is screwed up."

"As sound as your reasoning seems," Sesshoumaru cut into whatever defense the Taishou was sure to shoot back at the female, "I am fairly certain he is not rabid."

"No, he's just a great fool," a female voice cut in before Kagome stepped into view. "I told you not to use the Phone unless it was an emergency!"

"He wasn't where we left him," Inu no Taishou stated sourly. "And he has still not accounted for his current location."

"That is not an emergency!" Kagome yelled. "So he's not where we left him, big deal! I would think that'd be a good sign. We could have found his dead body, is that what you'd prefer?"

"The heir must be accounted for at all times-" the Taishou attempted to defend his actions.

"He is not your heir anymore! When are you going to get it through your thick skull?" Kagome hollered.

Sesshoumaru didn't bother to listen beyond that. Akemi had turned her attention to him with a question in her eyes. "That is Kagome," he answered simply. There was no other answer to give, as he wasn't certain she would comprehend the relation of 'sister-in-law'.

Akemi turned back to watch the tirade Inu Taishou was crumbling under and studied the female for some minutes, at the end of which she gave a sharp nod. "The Kagome is to be trusted," she pronounced over the miko with conviction.

Sesshoumaru's eyebrows shot up in unrestrainable surprise. He wasn't sure what to be more astonished about, the fact that she made such a quick decision to trust a complete stranger or the fact that she did so based solely on an image she couldn't see, touch or otherwise sense. It was almost as if…Akemi recognized Kagome. She hadn't remembered the Taishou or him. But she remembered Kagome, trusted her on sight and he was certain she wouldn't have done the same with him. She wouldn't even have given him a chance if he hadn't been ill to the point of insensibility. In a strange way it was comforting. It meant there was some recall there, under the instinct and paranoia that characterized the state she was in.

But of course, it didn't exactly do him a great deal of good in this situation.

"Do you think they could finish this in some other den?" Akemi cut in to the war breaking out between Kagome and the Taishou. "They bring danger here and I would prefer if they quit sooner rather than later."

"Huh?" Kagome gaped in dumbfounded confusion.

"I'll see what I can do to terminate the connection quickly," Sesshoumaru replied quietly. Akemi simply acknowledged his words with a nod and completely left the Phone and its views in order to tend the fire.

"Sesshoumaru, was that-" Kagome began hesitantly.

"Yes," he answered evenly.

"She let you in," the miko smiled warmly.

"In a way," Sesshoumaru smirked.

"Then you are better," Kagome beamed. "I was worried that-"

"I haven't been eaten yet," he interrupted her.

Inu no Taishou snorted, "As if my heir ever could be, he's more powerful than that."

Before either of them could reply to the Taishou's foolishness, Akemi once more butted in. "You would apparently be surprised by what gets eaten in the wilds," she grumbled dryly.

"What was that?"

"Power and strength doesn't keep you from being eaten, fool," Akemi informed the youkai still invading her den.

"The more fool the youkai who approaches a youkai with a powerful enough youki to slaughter them," the Taishou returned.

"The biggest fool is the one to advertise his presence," the Feral rejoined. "For even the strongest require sleep sometime, as it is required lest illness and injury befall them for lack of adequate rest. And then their death is certain and swift." Her statement was delivered in a clearly irritated and bored tone, as if she were relating the most basic of knowledge. "While your invasive communication persists, you blatantly shout the location of my one and only safe haven and the sanctuary of your offspring to the other Ferals and wild youkai in the area. I suggest you quit if you desire him to live longer than I have so far managed to make him."

"What?" the old inu demanded.

"She is injured, and I am ill," Sesshoumaru translated bluntly. "You endanger us by using the Phone which demands attention of every youkai near it before even being answered."

"Hence why it was supposed to be for emergencies only, stupid," Kagome growled at the Taishou.

"It is still drawing attention here," Akemi declared. "The energy cannot be hidden from those who have learned to sense even the slightest changes in such things. This is our survival. Such senses have to be razor sharp."

"So we need to wrap this up," Kagome sighed. "Taishou finish your business and end the call before you get them killed." The glare she delivered unto him brooked no nonsense.

Inu Taishou heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Fine then. Now that you have finally come to your senses Sesshoumaru it is time you returned to where you belong."

Sesshoumaru drew back in anger and disbelief; surely his father couldn't be that much of a fool. "My place has always been with my alpha."

"Good then I shall expect you home in-"

"And you are not her," Sesshoumaru continued, gritting his teeth all the while. "I am where I belong for the first time in far too long."

Kagome cut across the Taishou's indignant sputtering, "Deal with it," she ordered him before quickly severing the connection with a warm farewell to her brother-in-law.

"So I am your alpha, hmm?" Akemi glanced up at him pensively and Sesshoumaru tensed nervously. There was no telling how she would react to his words. He truly hadn't thought before he spoke or what affects it might have on his current situation. For all he knew Akemi could boot him out for assuming things without her input. She let out a sudden puff of air, disturbing the silence that convened in the wake of her question. "Good to know."

Sesshoumaru blinked. "What?"

"It is good to know the pack structure." She turned back to the fire, nonchalantly feeding timber to the flames to build it back up from where the night had let it dwindling.

"Pack?"

"Yes pack," she turned back to him. "Surely you did not think I spent all that time nursing you back to health with the intent to simply abandon you. That was never my intention." Sesshoumaru felt something deep inside sag with tangible relief. "You were always free to leave but I never had any intention of making you. Fool youkai," she muttered. "Hopefully you did not take too much after your sire."

Sesshoumaru chuckled in relieved humor as some of his worries gently flitted away. Her complete disregard for his father's political and natural power was a special kind of relief when she stepped between him and the Taishou's demands of him and now he knew she did this because he was pack. Her pack. Permanent and cared for. It was all he'd ever wished for and it was real, perhaps not as ideal as it could have been, but he would take what he could get.


	11. Ch 10 Upheaval

So nobody cared about that last chapter huh? I rather liked it myself. Especially the bit where Akemi thought the Inu no Taishou was rabid.

She couldn't very well think he was just crazy as that would mean he was Feral and I think she might be insulted by anyone supposing that about him.

Hmm, I wonder what Rumiko Takahashi would think of it.

In this chapter, things hit a high note, and not in a good way. I'm pretty sure you'll be cursing me at the end of this. Well, Tough. If I speed up posting I run out of chapters sooner and you get stuck with a longer wait for new material. AS I said when I was posting Chronicles, you can always go back and reread previous material, and I have enough of a library posted to keep some people busy for days.

Enjoy!

**Upheaval**

As earth-shatteringly profound as Akemi's declaration was to Sesshoumaru, his life didn't change much.

To be perfectly honest, it hadn't truly mattered whether he was a confirmed member of her pack or not. She was his alpha, chosen long before she was driven Feral. His instinct remained the same. His job was to look after and protect his alpha from further harm and, though he no longer feared she would randomly disappear on him for reasons he didn't understand and couldn't control, he didn't trust her not to strain her healing leg.

Sesshoumaru wasn't sure if it was a Feral thing or just an Akemi thing, but she seemingly could not just lie still for any reasonable amount of time. For whatever reason, every moment she was awake, the Feral female had to be up doing something, tending the fire, resituating the various garments piled up for their nest, or some other tedious chore of some sort or another. All of which could either be done later or by himself, but for some reason, Akemi refused to leave be.

His only offense was simply constant vigilance. If he stopped her or interfered she had one less thing to be doing. He couldn't physically keep her from these things. The use of force would be risky in such close quarters and may cause more harm than good. Normally he just took over the job for her.

His plan generally met with marginal success. Sesshoumaru's mornings were pretty busy, for at the beginning of the day, all the chores had yet to be done, so once he took one from Akemi she headed on to the next on her internal to do list. It wasn't until well after midday that he finally succeeded in closing out every task she had apparently thought up for the day.

And it always seemed to change from the day before. He never knew what she was going to do until she attempted to do it. It was strange, for he could detect no rhyme or reason as to how she made up her schedule or even when she did.

He did however have a suspicion or two.

Sesshoumaru was certain his job would be easier if he could actually manage to wake before she did.

He didn't know how she did it. Even with his slowly recovering health, he shouldn't be sleeping so much more than she did while healing an open wound. Without her even trying she always managed to stay awake longer than he and never once had he woken before she did. There was no explanation for the disparate needs for rest and sleep. He couldn't understand it, and his confusion and continually frustrated efforts to change this fact only served to provoke stronger efforts on his part.

Today, he succeeded. Well, in part anyway. In good conscience, when Sesshoumaru opened his eyes that morning he wasn't really awake at all. The lights were on, but no one was home kind of deal. He still wasn't certain how he did it, or to what extent anything was real.

All he knew was the moment he was aware enough to make conscious decisions with his right mind, Akemi had already whisked them both outside to deliver a lesson in stealth and hunting in the wilds. And he was really bad at it.

Sesshoumaru was okay with not being the best on the first try. He was fully cognizant walking came before running, and a single step came before that. He just hadn't been aware the first step would be a complete one eighty from everything he'd ever known or been taught about being youkai and how to hunt. It was a brand new arena when lives were on the line, when starvation was the ultimate result of a failed hunt.

Then there was the element of danger. The wilds were dangerous, every small child knew that. He'd known it since the day his mother was killed in front of him on the edge of the wilderness that bordered his father's property.

Out here, Akemi could get mauled by a simple animal predator if the fickle element of luck left her at the wrong moment. Simply existing in the wilds was dangerous for every creature, from the lowest simple plant upon which the prey animals fed to the most powerful youkai on a bad day.

And he, apparently, didn't know the first thing about stealth.

In regular society he was a force unto himself. There wasn't a civilized youkai alive that Sesshoumaru couldn't sneak up on without a second thought. He could move with such grace not even a single whisper of air current betrayed his passage.

In the wild, he didn't even come close. His youki, a tool to be used in the higher political circles, always preceded him, alerting every creature in the wild of his presence and intent. If he wasn't close to Akemi, his mere existence was a shout in all directions. Akemi suppressed it for him, shielding it carefully.

Sesshoumaru supposed she intended to do so until he learned to do it himself.

She might have been successful at it too, had something not found them out anyway.

It was the worst luck really. She had picked an area least likely to have prey and therefore likely to be free of predators. Akemi had managed to teach him how to place his feet so that no sound could give him away, a more difficult art among the fallen leaves than he'd ever imagined. There should have been nothing to draw attention their way.

No scent was free to trail after them, no tracks left to lead a hunter to follow. There should have been no danger to threaten them.

Sesshoumaru snorted internally as Akemi's hand pressed his shoulder down more firmly. The Feral female hovered over him warily. Something had set her off, something beyond the trees had caught her attention and she didn't like it. Any other youkai might have brushed her off ten minutes ago, But Sesshoumaru more than knew he was out of his element. This was Akemi's world if she sensed something he didn't, he believed her.

Though he was kind of hoping the situation would blow over, that whatever it was out there would move on without a direct encounter. The last thing either one of them was an altercation as she was still injured, albeit mostly healed, and he was not quite up to his preferred phenomenal state yet. Even if he were, Sesshoumaru probably wouldn't solve this situation in the best possible way for the wild. His morning had shown him that much already.

Unfortunately, it was looking increasingly unlikely his wish would be fulfilled the longer Akemi pinned them down. Whatever the threat was, it wasn't moving on, it wasn't leaving. It was watching them, and the longer it watched, the more likely it was that they were considered prey to be hunted, stalked, or spooked into the open, something Akemi had warned him about at the outset.

The best-case scenario had them under the scrutiny of some wild youkai observing them from idle curiosity. Some breeds were like that, playful and inquisitive. If they failed to prove interesting, after a long while (a really long while, wild youkai could be excessively patient) it would either move in to aggressively provoke them and inspire a chase situation or it would simply leave.

Worst-case had a Feral male pondering on the female in his company. Sadly, this was the more likely possibility as Akemi did have that Hunter out to rut with her. The other male had been close a week ago when He had slaughtered those piglets.

There was no question as to what would most likely happen if such a youkai had actually managed to catch them out here. He being a male in close proximity to the desired female would pretty much cause a serious ruckus, lethal in nature for Sesshoumaru. And Akemi would most likely suffer the more for it.

Akemi pressed against him more fully, her body actually seeming to shield him. She no longer hovered slightly above him. The right half of her body was glued to his back, pressing him down and blocking the view of him from most angles. With her this close to him he could actually feel her pulse under her skin as it raced in adrenaline rushed speed.

Akemi was more than a little spooked. Whatever was out there and watching them, terrified her.

Sesshoumaru's own pulse began to escalate at this knowledge. Akemi's emotions since she became Feral were almost impossible to read. She was more inscrutable than he was at his most enigmatic in youkai courts. The fact that he could pick up on her fear didn't mean she was slipping, it indicated the extent of the emotion.

He was learning that Akemi's fears, angers and other passions only pushed through her instinctual veneer when the situation contained a certain amount of extreme urgency to be expressed. The fact that she was terrified and still striving to protect him signaled that they, together, had the worst luck possible.

A conclusion confirmed by the red-eyed male that stepped finally into his view. The Hunter had come forth.

Golden eyes widen in surprise as a particularly intense, guttural growl rocked through the body pressing him into the loam on the forest floor. Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly sure what it meant but easily understood that her Hunter didn't much care for what she said.

The male's eyes shot wide-open and took on an even darker scarlet colour as the Hunter's skin began to stretch in the preceding signs of a full transformation brought about by anger and not control.

In a single movement Akemi rose and threw Sesshoumaru on his feet before breaking the silence for the first time since leaving the safety of the den. "RUN!"

Sesshoumaru didn't need to be told twice, though the chances of either one of them outrunning a fully transformed canine youkai were preposterously slim. Staying would be mindlessly stupid. He darted through trees in the opposite direction of the Feral threat, eyes darting for possible escape. He knew he had to be the one to find the means of evading the beast on the hunt since Akemi would be too busy trying to prevent Sesshoumaru's demise. It was the main reason she still hadn't passed him.

His breath was coming in harsh pants before he found their out. The river dropped several feet up ahead in a series of rapids and falls behind which he hoped to find at least one crevice or cavern or cul-de-sac large enough for both of them to hide behind.

"Watch out!" he heard a shout just before a hand shoved him hard to the left. Sesshoumaru lost his footing and rolled into the first set of rapids uncontrollably. He regained his feet after the first four-foot fall and stood under the washing water to wait for Akemi. His plan to reach out and grab her as she crossed the fall was almost forgotten when he saw the red staining the water. At the last minute he reached out to snatch her from the current and pulled her up behind the tumbling river to wait for the danger to pass them.

The little niche he had found was large enough and deep enough for him to pull Akemi out of the water on the low ledge formed by the natural rock. Sesshoumaru did not like what he saw. His Alpha was unconscious and more than slightly torn up. She had taken a serious blow high on her shoulder, entirely too close to her neck for comfort. And she wouldn't wake. She was bleeding too fast for it to clot properly and he had no way to properly treat such a wound in the wilds anyway.

She needed a miko, and Sesshoumaru knew exactly where he could find one willing to help him save her. Kagome had just better be home is all he could say, because he would start knocking down houses if he couldn't find her.

Sesshoumaru couldn't stand to be without Akemi again. He'd suffered it once; he'd rather die than go through it ever again.

Once the coast was clear, perhaps a bit sooner than he should have, Sesshoumaru threw all caution to the wind and rose up into the sky determined to make it home before Akemi had the chance to expire.


	12. Ch 11 Must Be Crazy

And the world marches on...

I suppose I should warn you about now that there are only three more chapters ready to be posted after this...What does this mean to you? Well three more weeks of uninterrupted postings before nothing but static from me. When I started posting this back in January, I had hoped having a deadline would help spur me on, it did with _Chronicles_ so I had reason to believe it would help with this one too. Unfortunately it didn't.

I'm trying my best here, but still having a lot of trouble. I know where I want to go with this, I know what I want to happen but filling in the fleshy stuff is really hard to do when I'm finding myself stuck thinking in a different part of the story. This was a Problem in _Flights_ and parts of Chronicles as well. In _Chronicles_ I fixed it over time. Actually I wrote parts of _Chronicles_ out of order which helped, and at the same time didn't. I did start _Chronicles_ in the middle and then went back to the beginning to find a start place. Which made it hard because I had to establish all the things I had decided were already known by the point in the middle without creating plotholes. A real pain in the ass. But I keep plugging away.

Isaac Asimov's cure for writer's block was to keep writing. So I'll keep on keepin' on and clean out as much of the muck when I type things up as I can. Still, it's going to be a slow process and you, my dear readers, will be stuck feeling the consequences. I apologize.

If only Rumiko Takahashi's characters weren't always so resistant to working with me. I only torture them I little...

**Must be Crazy**

"What on earth possessed you?" the Taishou was in full foolish form, bellowing at his son and being pretty much ignored by everyone present in the crowded and frantic room.

"Inuyasha, grab me some extra packs of disinfectant," Kagome called urgently to her mate as she meticulously ignored the hectic atmosphere around her. She had to know exactly what needed healing and wallowing the worry spurring the chaotic impetus around her would get in the way of an accurate evaluation. "Damn everything, what happened to you," she whispered to the unconscious youkai oblivious to everything going on in the impromptu emergency room.

Sesshoumaru had arrived and movement in the house had erupted like a disturbed wasp's nest once his reason for appearing so abruptly had made itself known. Without a second thought, Kagome had swept both her brother-in-law and his precious cargo into her kitchen and had the injured youkai female spread out on her large kitchen table.

"Who in their right mind would bring a Feral youkai into a home with young pups present?" the Taishou continued without a single care as to whether or not he was heard or even really paid the attention he felt he deserved. "Why didn't you call in the Exterminators?" he demanded. The pups in the house were his blood, granted it was a diluted form of it and couldn't actually inherit the cardinal seat; it was in him as an inu to be protective of his pack.

"Sango is on her way," Inuyasha snorted to his father. "She coming to prevent any other Exterminators you might be tempted to call in from doing harm to Akemi." He added to deflate the Taishou's expression from its triumphant state. "And once Sango declares Akemi safe from the Western Exterminators, there won't be a single branch in any territory willing to harm Akemi whatever the incentive."

"Morenda, prop her head up will you," Kagome requested of the nearly feral live-in survivor from the notorious school in the North. "I don't like her breathing."

"Do you think the blow damaged a lung?" Morenda asked the miko, worry lacing every syllable she managed to utter.

"I don't think so," Kagome shook her head, "She's not coughing up blood. She might have damaged more than a few ribs. Something is obviously constricting her airway in any case. I can't do anything about that yet, but we can clear the upper pathway, open it as much as possible."

"Mommy?" a quiet voice broke into the miko's concentration. "What's going on? Who's that lady?"

"Come on Munchkin," Inuyasha picked up his four-year-old daughter and carried her out of the way. "Mommy is a little busy right now. Let's go see if the baby's all right for her, okay?" The silver headed child nodded up to her father sagely. It wasn't unusual for her mommy to be busy with other people's hurts, she often made sure to help her daddy take care of her baby brother. It was her job as the big sister after all. But after that was done Daddy was going to have some explaining to do. She wanted answers.

"To bring a Feral into civilized society is absolutely insane. You should have left her there, where she belongs." The Taishou simply couldn't be bothered to realize nobody cared for his opinion. Well at least not until Sesshoumaru snarled and pinned him to Kagome's kitchen wall.

"If Akemi had remained in the wilds with this wound she would have died, Inu no Taishou," Kagome observed clinically as she glared up at the fool youkai. "And your son would have followed."

The Taishou would have responded with more of his long-winded idiocy but he lacked the necessary air to pull it off. It likewise didn't appear he would have an opportunity to do so anytime soon with the look Sesshoumaru was giving him.

This was the scene Sango walked in on five minutes later, Akemi apparently bleeding out on the table, the Taishou pinned to the wall by a slightly enraged Sesshoumaru and an overly worried Morenda asking hundreds of questions, most of which couldn't be answered by Kagome. The Exterminator merely shrugged her shoulders at her husband and gestured for Miroku to take their three kids and find Inuyasha and Kagome's little girl, as it was hardly likely Inuyasha would be anywhere else if the child was still asleep.

"What do you need help with Kagome?" Sango rolled up her sleeves and headed directly for the table.

"Help me slow the bleeding until Kikyou gets here?" Kagome sighed wearily. "I won't be able to do anything until then."

"Why?" Sesshoumaru demanded from across the room. His nerves were more than a little on edge, his alpha lay bleeding on that table and the one person he'd hoped would help had failed to do anything to save her yet.

"If it were only Akemi I could probably heal everything in five minutes," Kagome shook her head as if that explained everything.

"What do you mean only Akemi?" Sango asked. "Akemi is all I see on this table, Kagome."

The miko danced her fingers lightly above the unconscious female's lower abdomen, "I mean she's carrying," Kagome answered. "I count about four other Youkai auras besides Akemi's, still very young, but there all the same. I need an assist to ensure their survival and Kikyou's the only one I can call and be certain of receiving aid."

"She's breeding?" the Taishou gasped suddenly realizing Sesshoumaru's grip had relaxed enough for him to speak. "Wait, four?" Multiples were fairly unheard of in civilized youkai and only the lesser youkai, the ones used for pets, were known to whelp litters.

Kagome nodded, "If I were to proceed on my own I could possibly guarantee Akemi's survival, but not her pups, I don't know of any miko who has that much control when healing wounds this dire. There are all kinds of energy being thrown around and if just the slightest amount spilled over onto them…" she trailed off, unborn youkai were especially susceptible to purification from miko energies.

"I don't think Akemi would much care for us if we terminated her young," Morenda pointed out.

"Four," Inu no Taishou gasped again. He couldn't believe it, four pure-blooded pups. If the little things weren't born Feral his pack might just have to hold on to this female if for no other reason than her ability to produce litters.

Sesshoumaru growled at his father, too numb to properly contemplate what Akemi's pregnancy most likely meant where he was concerned but certain his father's thoughts were not good. The Inu no Taishou probably wanted to keep his alpha as a breeder, to serve no other purpose than to fatten the ranks of the clan, simply to pup her as often as possible until the perpetual hardship of pupping and subsequent birthing killed her body with overuse. That was so not going to happen.

"Sesshoumaru, go let Kikyou in so we can save Akemi," Kagome broke the stand off developing between father and son. "I'll deal with the Taishou later." She was very familiar with the Inu no Taishou's desires for her to breed as much as possible. She was no fool as to how he would view Akemi's spontaneous ability to bear litters.

Kikyou wasted no time on niceties or the like. The situation was serious, or she wouldn't have been called in the first place. Sesshoumaru's mere presence explained to her the rest. Akemi was here and her life most likely at stake. She would see to it that life remained where it belonged.

On closer view of the Feral, Kikyou realized the true reason she was called. "Do you want to do the shielding or the healing?" she asked of her summoner and reincarnation. There was no sign visible that she was seething. She really should have done more than maim that fool Feral male chasing Akemi. She should have killed him when she had the chance, but that would not help in the here and now so Kikyou utilized her ancient miko training to package up her rage for later use. "Move Morenda, if she awakes she will need an out in which to retreat. Do not block her way."

Morenda nodded and moved over by Akemi's male. Akemi had to pull through this. Morenda had only retained her sanity by the skin of her teeth because Akemi had existed somewhere in the world. She couldn't die now, not where Morenda could see her and know definitively that Akemi was no longer amongst the living.

"I think I'd better do the healing," Kagome sighed, "my shielding isn't as good as yours and the slightest slip…"

Kikyou nodded. "No harm will befall them while she is here," the miko phantom promised. And she had every intention of seeing that her words remained true however long the Feral remained in society. Akemi was a special person in the eyes of many, her being Feral did not change that. Especially not as far as Kikyou was concerned. Unlike other Ferals, Akemi had done her best to avoid harm to others. A trait even so-called civilized youkai often failed to hold.

Kikyou leaned over the bleeding youkai and carefully built her shield up around the unborn youkai. She had to be careful not to cut off the necessary energies they received from their mother while preventing Kagome's miko power from slipping through to ultimately poison them. It wasn't often Kikyou got the chance to protect such tender things and she was determined to prove absolutely capable of preserving such tiny sparks of life.

Once Kikyou nodded to Kagome to begin, the Shikon miko poured her power over the unconscious youkai's skin, determined to knit the wounds together as close to instantly as possible. Akemi had already lost a great deal more blood than she felt comfortable with. As it was, even if Kagome found and corrected every single injury, she feared the remaining weakness would still be a threat to the lives dependent on the Feral Female, both the unborn and the very full grown male she was certain had fathered those lives. They all needed Akemi whole and healthy, but how to keep a Feral close without seeming to trap her?

Kagome stumbled back as her energy finished the job of healing. Through her exhausted panting she spoke, "It's done, though she'll be weak for some days."

"The pups remain safe and healthy," Kikyou smiled. "They are already beginning to display a bit of personality." She chuckled warmly, a decided break in her usual demeanor. She glanced up to Sesshoumaru, "You'll be pleased to know they're extremely healthy, and I don't just mean for multiples. They are simply healthy pups."

"You can tell?" Morenda asked.

Kikyou merely nodded as she took a deliberate step back from the table a moment before Akemi's eyes snapped open.

With a snarl the Feral female rolled off the table and stumbled into the refrigerator. She was somewhere unfamiliar, surrounded by the unknown and weak, so very weak. Akemi didn't like it, she didn't like this one bit and she snarled at all the strangers seemingly intent on keeping her trapped here.

The minute she stumbled Sesshoumaru moved to aid his alpha but was prevented by the sudden grip his father place on his arm and Akemi's growling went up a notch.

"Taishou I would advise you to let go of her Beta," Kikyou spoke as if she were merely discussing the weather over tea. "She does not like you manhandling the only person here that she trusts and feels protective of."

"For the last time, Sesshoumaru is not a Beta," Inu no Taishou tightened his grip on his son.

Sesshoumaru snarled back at the father keeping him from his alpha and, apparently, mother of his soon-to-be pups. "Yes, I am," he ground out in frustration as he tore his arm from the claws he no longer cared were wrapped around his arm.

"You are certain he is not rabid?" Akemi asked seriously. "He just harmed his own young."

Morenda let out a burst of surprised laughter.

"No, he's not. The Inu no Taishou is not rabid," Kagome grinned.

"Things would just be so much easier if he were," Sango grumbled. "Then I could make a rug out of him already."

Akemi's red eyes weighed and measured them. "Have you called in my death yet?" she demanded. Every Feral knew that to enter the settled lands was an instant death sentence. Clearly they did not intend for her death to be at the hands of the miko phantom, as it hadn't happened yet.

"No death will be delivered to you through the official channels," Sango promised. "No miko will go against Kagome's edict, and no Exterminator will go against my honor. There are many who would protect you."

"The more fool you all are," the Taishou decreed gruffly.

"Kagome, were not there a few words you needed to have with the Taishou in private?" Kikyou asked mildly. "Morenda could help you escort him to an appropriate place for such an exchange. And Sango, I do believe your other half is once again getting himself into trouble with Inuyasha's daughter."

"Why thank you for reminding me," Kagome glared at the Taishou. "Morenda if you would be so kind."

"Gladly," Morenda cuffed the Inu no Taishou solidly behind the ear. "Get moving you old rabid thing you."

"I am not Rabid!"

"I better go check on Miroku," Sango nodded to herself. "Call me if you need me," she called after the miko.

Within minutes only the miko phantom, Sesshoumaru and Akemi stood in the warm kitchen stained with blood. Kikyou slowly approached the defensive youkai leaning tensely against the fridge, "However long you choose to stay, I promise no physical harm will come to you so long as there is power in my being."

"Stay?" Akemi asked warily. Why would she stay?

Kikyou reached out to press her palm gently over the place she had recently shielded despite Akemi's efforts to back up through the icebox. "Your young have better chances of survival here," the miko phantom informed her. "You have better chances of surviving a birthing and even if you did not, they most likely would. Think on it before making a decision." And with that the miko phantom left the house all together allowing Sesshoumaru and his alpha a moment alone in an otherwise all too crowded house.


	13. Ch 12 A Den Apart

La, la, la. I have some very faithful readers it seems. 190 hits in the ten days since the month started. You like me, you really really like me. *snicker* okay I'll quit. heheh.

Ah, stuff happens in this chapter. Well stuff happens in every chapter, but this one is just Akemi and Sesshoumaru again. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a quiet moment after such a strange turn of events don't you think. And Akemi should be talking right thru the end of this fic now. (explained in the chapter.) The big transition has been made and now, the really tough stuff starts... after this chapter. Really everything after this point was a LOT harder to write. Because the big themes start playing a bigger role. (sometimes the most potent curses are the ones we give ourselves. What the hell was I thinking picking such evil topics to write about!)

I wonder if Rumiko Takahashi in her great role as creator of the Inuyasha world ever had so much trouble, I mean most of her themes are pretty easy junior high after shool programming stuff. "Be true to yourself." "Find you're inner strength." "Never give up!" And my personal favorite "Punish those with big mouths and bad manners with your personal power. Osuwari!"

Enjoy it while it lasts...

**A Den Apart**

Despite how numb the events and revelations of the day had left him, Sesshoumaru quickly figured out that no matter how empty the room currently was there was no way Akemi was likely to relax in Kagome's house.

It wasn't just that she was youkai, for the home, by virtue of Inuyasha's augmented hearing, was well enough insulated that, provided nobody else in the house started screaming, the sound of the other's various movements and conversations was decidedly kept within each room. Sesshoumaru, in the time he'd spent with her in the wilds, had learned she could sense things better than even he could, and he had a talent for sensing many of his "colleagues" even when they didn't want to be found. He had decided that this was possibly a virtue of that self-same paranoia Ferals were frequently rumored to suffer from.

From the way he saw it, that paranoia was often a great tool to survival in the wild. Danger really was everywhere in the wilderness Ferals generally haunted, so the shadows most non-feral youkai would dismiss as being tricks of the imagination, Ferals paid attention to. Good thing too, for most of those shadows that generally spooked a Feral would kill the youkai that ignored them.

However, such heightened awareness would work against her in a house filled with strangers. Akemi could still sense the others in their nearness and until she no longer could, would not relax her guard enough to properly rest the way she should after such an injury.

Of course, she wasn't the only one unable to breath easy in Kagome's besmirched kitchen. Sesshoumaru found every nerve in his body standing at the attention after the excitement of the day. His instincts cried out for reassurance of his alphas continued vitality, the kind best achieved after washing the blood from his alphas naked body and examining every part for leftover injury. She had nearly died today, had brushed the curtain of everlasting sleep and it did not sit well with him. There was no way in hell he was going to strip Akemi down in the middle of his sister-in-law's house with only the flimsy belief that everyone would be courteous enough to leave them alone long enough to do it right. That is, if Akemi would even allow him to at all, nervous as she was to be keeping such close company in such a foreign space.

With a sigh he realized there was only one thing for it, he would have to take his alpha elsewhere before answering to the needs of his nerves.

Sesshoumaru carefully approached his wary companion. It wasn't quite like nearing a wounded wild animal, but it was comparable. If he moved to fast he was sure he'd be in trouble either from her instincts strung taut or later when his alpha chewed him out for his foolishness. He should know better after all.

He did, but the need to soothe his own instincts was a great deal more powerful than mere common sense. Gently he lifted Akemi from the floor and carried her out the kitchen door that had admitted Sango earlier in the evening.

There was a light misting rain coming down from the shadowy expanse keeping out the starlight. But he didn't need the light to find his way. He knew the way to his destination the same way a homing pigeon found the place to deliver messages.

"This is not the way back to my den," Akemi growled from where he carried her against his chest. That she was still able to talk worried him. Didn't she have to be in pain to produce coherent speech? And how did she know where her den was from here?

"It is the way to a safe place," Sesshoumaru replied somewhat distractedly. It was the way to the house he built in those long distant days when he was still waiting for his Akemi to come back from school. It would've been her home had things gone as planned years ago. Now it would finally serve its purpose, if only briefly. He was thankful he had built it to seem more natural.

Sesshoumaru easily stepped through the barrier Kagome had erected about the place some years back, protecting his offering and showing her belief that someday his offering would be accepted by the one it was intended for. Akemi tensed at the brief wash of miko energy. Kagome had keyed it so that only he could bring someone through it. The place was his to give over to one of his choosing.

Sesshoumaru ignored the sudden glare his alpha threw up at him. She didn't like being out in the open. She didn't like the contact with a power capable of destroying her and while he knew she'd rather he take her back to the wilds, he just didn't think he had another trip like that one in him right now. Besides, nobody could bother them here with Kagome's barrier to guard their privacy.

He kept his stride long and even through the house until he reached his desired destination. He'd taken particular care in sculpting the walls and basin of the master bath until the entire room looked rather like an outdoor hot spring. The effect was aided by the presence of a real geyser in the bottom of the sculpted rock basin. He'd met with great luck finding it when he originally built the house. He'd thought Akemi would be delighted with the treat.

Now it was probably the only thing here that could soothe her with its familiar sulfur scent.

With a sigh he set her carefully on her feet once more before hastening directly to remove what was left of her garments. The Hunter had left her very little to cover with, but then there was little reason for the Feral male to care. The blow had been meant for Sesshoumaru and had it connected the Hunter would have wasted little time stripping Akemi for the rut. The thought of how things could have gone in the wilds caused his hands to shake as he carefully pulled the sodden fibers of her shirt from her shoulders.

The wound had bled terribly until all her skin was bathed in it. Sesshoumaru shook his head of the observation and bent to retrieve the wooden bucket conveniently within reach. With deliberate motions, he dipped it into the spring fed pool and dumped the captured water gently over her skin until the reddened water collected at her feet and ran off into the drain, keeping it from contaminating the tub of water. He rinsed her until the water running off her was clear once again.

He would have like to use the soaps she used to like, but he didn't have any on hand. And he was weary; the stresses of the day were starting to catch up with him. With a heavy sigh he leaned forward to run his hands over the newly healed skin of his Alpha, pausing over the area just south of her belly button as he remembered the words in Kagome's kitchen. Pups.

Akemi growled at him. She didn't like him hovering over such a tender area. Her instincts urged her to lash out at him for such lingering attention. Instead she shoved him over and stripped him. His ritual cleansing of her skin was turned against him, and for very similar reasons. She could smell his blood from where his father had clawed him and was determined to examine the wound he had apparently forgotten all about. Fool Youkai.

Her hands glided over his water slicked skin searching for other injuries before trapping his injured arm and bringing it closer for inspection.

Sesshoumaru sucked in his breath at there shared position. It wasn't the traditional arrangement for inu rutting, but the correct parts were close enough and they were both naked. A flash of a similar situation flitted across his memory briefly and he was reminded of what the end result of such relations could be making him increasingly aware of her body and his.

Akemi glanced down as he stirred under her and eyebrows rose incredulously. "Why do you do that? Pups have already been conceived, there can be no need for that." She considered his physical state curiously before lowering her mouth to lick over the claw marks raking over his arm.

Sesshoumaru squirmed, uncomfortably and tried to distract himself. "You knew you were carrying?" he asked in surprise.

"Hard to miss the onset of a season, and then its cessation," she answered as if the very idea of ignoring it were impossible. Which he supposed it might be.

"When I offered the use of my body I had rather hoped to be awake for it," he grumbled more to himself than his alpha.

"You were awake," She informed him finally letting go of his arm. Her body was trembling with weakness and the sudden warmth his obvious arousal evoked in her. "Though probably not fully aware. You were still ill."

He blinked. "Did I hurt…"

"It was unexpectedly pleasant," she shrugged. "It should not have been, but it was."

"Why shouldn't you have enjoyed it?" Sesshoumaru inquired summarily dismissing the pang that he hadn't been fully aware to experience his first sexual encounter. He'd never watned anyone but Akemi. "I react to you because I want to be a part of you, I enjoy it. If you did not enjoy it I would never be able to do that."

"The rut is always painful," Akemi shook her head. "The beckoning of death should be painful."

"Death? The act is the creation of life," Sesshoumaru protested, "as it has been the creation of four pups. How can you-"

"I did not want to know how many I would lose," Akemi growled angrily and Sesshoumaru swiftly sat up to catch her to his chest. "Pups are a death all their own. Should they and the female survive the carrying. They most likely find death in the birthing. And if they defy all that is natural and somehow manage to survive that they die before the year is out." Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in horror, she spoke from experience. "Either the pups take sick or the mother is caught out hunting to feed them when she should be in her den. And once the mother is lost the pups inevitably follow."

This was why she hunted the bigger game now, why she was determined to teach him how to hunt, why she wasn't urging him to leave her or conversely trying to abandon him. Akemi was trying to prevent what she viewed as certain death of either her or her pups. She was afraid of more than just her strange surroundings with the offerings of hope. If the hope turned false she would break again.

But he knew the hope offered by staying where she and her pups could receive proper medical attention surrounded by pack was not a false hope. It was real. "Stay," he whispered. "Stay, and we can see to it that the pups and you come out of this healthy and safe."

She looked at him like he had lost his mind before shaking her head and settling against him. "We shall see."

He nodded and cuddled her close a moment before attempting to move them both into the pool of water. He was quickly finding he couldn't with her on top of him working to prevent it. Sesshoumaru eventually quit trying with a frustrated growl as Akemi sat back up again over top of him. "Will you quite settle already," she demanded.

Sesshoumaru groaned his awareness of their respective bodies was worse now than it had been before, because the memory of Akemi's form against his was a great deal fresher than it had been before. She blinked down at his squirming discomfort. It was obvious he wanted something but was holding back though what he wanted had changed since she sat up. With a sigh, she shook her head. "You really want it that much?" With the warmth low in her belly gathering strength she made the strangest decision of her Feral life and set about reenacting the night her heat woke him from his illness-induced haze. It's not like it would kill her.

More anyway.


	14. Ch 13 The Pack That Was

Woo, Sesshoumaru got some...not that he didn't before, he just didn't remember it as a memory. The mind is a funny thing. Hence why it is so hard to pinpoint what _exactly_ makes a person sane and what makes them not. It's not like a physical injury where you can see where something is wrong and then when something has gotten better.

Are you getting where lot of the trouble in writing this fic is coming from? We know that Akemi, while being completely different from what she was, is merely a product of her environment and experience. Abuse does that to a person. She is not what most of us would consider unhinged or insane. She has all her ducks in a row...in the wild.

This probably wasn't always the case, but it is now. I suppose what she really had was a nervous break down, a violent, lethal, and complete mental eruption. She snapped under the pressure. If she was human, she'd have been sent to therapy for trauma. Instead she's had to cope on her own, so she went camping...for many years. She repressed memories, lots of them, and came back a slightly different person. The problem is, this society doesn't view it that way, kind of a severe lack of understanding and compassion because Ferals go Feral in usually violent ways and end up hurting somebody wholy unrelated to the situation. (being youkai these "hurts" tend to be really, really extensive or lethal.)

Rumiko Takahashi doesn't exactly deal with this sort of thing in the original work that inspired this story, but the elements are there.

**The Pack that Was**

When the morning light came streaming across the floor to knock against his closed eyes, Sesshoumaru began to stir. Then he hissed at the mild ache of discomfort that was usually the result of sleeping on a cold rock hard floor.

After the exceptional events of the long day, he'd been too tired to move any farther and after a long soak in the warm waters of the tub with his freshly cleaned alpha, he hadn't bothered to do more than haul them both out of the basin to the floor before they both fell asleep.

Actually, Sesshoumaru would still be sleeping despite the discomfort of the faux rock floor if not for the sun…and Akemi. The moment he cracked a weary eye open to the light and it adjusted properly, he could see that his Alpha was already awake. Again. And not where he left her.

Despite knowing she wouldn't abandon him, her absence didn't sit well with him. He well knew the dangers for a Feral in his world, and while he and the pack had done what they could to minimize it, there was always the possibility of some random element messing up all their work. Ignorant fear made people do strange things. That and the memory of her near death the day before was entirely too fresh for him to be easy without her in sight.

He didn't have to go far to find her though. She hadn't left the house. Instead she stood in the front room gazing out the wide windows he'd built to frame the view sweeping down the hill and over the rest of his father's personal property. It now had homes built in places that hadn't been there before, the houses of his half-brother and Kagome and Sango and her family, but it was still a lovely vista, calming and bucolic in its simplicity. At least he found it so, even now when his nerves were a bit frayed. He wasn't certain Akemi felt the same at the moment but he couldn't imagine there was anything in it that she would find altogether threatening.

Still, she seemed a bit edgy as she silently observed the grounds. "It is so exposed here," she commented quietly. There were no trees under which to take refuge and cover. The brush was minimal and hardly enough to conceal even a squirrel. How could they be safe here? Especially when others already knew where they were. "They have found us." She indicated Morenda and the miko phantom waiting out beyond the edge of Kagome's barrier.

Sesshoumaru had missed them in his first sweep of the view, mostly because they weren't a threat. "It is all right, they cannot come in." At her raised eyebrow he chose to elaborate, "Kagome erected a barrier to protect this place. They cannot come in." The moment the words escaped him he knew he had failed to soothe her worries.

"We are trapped here." Sesshoumaru should have known she would take it that way. Akemi was Feral and used to living in the forested tracks of the world. Places in which a youkai could hide for years without detection. As she had said, she was only as secure as the secrecy of her den. And once its location was discovered it became little more than a trap.

"No," he backpedaled verbally. "We can come and go as we please. No one else can enter…except maybe Kagome." He conceded carefully. "And no one can remove the barrier, no one has the power to do so. Kagome is the most powerful miko in recent history."

"She can remove it," his Alpha pointed out.

"But she won't," Sesshoumaru replied. "She is your pack, she desires to protect you. You said she was to be trusted." She had, he didn't understand why she feared the miko now. "Kagome's family are your pack, as is that youkai out there, and the slayer's family that live there as well," he gestured to Morenda and then to the house he hadn't been in before. Process of elimination declared it to belong to Sango.

"But I am Feral," she shook her head. The Slayers should kill her on-sight, the miko set her miko phantom out to end her. It would make more sense that was the reason for Kikyou's appearance outside.

"And they don't care," Sesshoumaru returned. "As I don't care. You are my alpha regardless of circumstance. You protected them many times before you became Feral. They seek to return the favor."

"I do not recall such happenings," Truly she did not, though a nagging struck whenever she glimpsed the miko phantom and the rest as if she had met them before. The same held true for the youkai waiting impatiently beside Kikyou.

"They happened before you went Feral," he answered slightly wearied of such a reality. She truly didn't seem to know any of them. Only Kagome had seemed to produce any signs of recognition from his alpha.

A thought struck him as the last cobwebs swept from his mind and the previous subject seemed sufficiently dealt with. "Why are you still able to speak?" he asked in concern moving closer to run his hands over her to check for injury.

"It burns," Akemi answered as she brushed a hand over her abdomen.

Sesshoumaru kneeled down in front of her tossing a confused glance up at her before running a hand over the area she had indicated. He hissed at the sting that rippled over his palm on contact, his brow wrinkled to show his consternation. "I thought she would have removed it last night," he murmured to himself. "We can ask her to get rid of it," he offered up to her. Surely the barrier around the pups was no longer needed.

She shook her head; "She intends to leave it in place until I leave. They are safer this way."

"But you hurt…" And he certainly didn't like her in pain.

Akemi snorted, "I am Feral. Life _is_ pain. You learn that early in the wild. Well maybe you did not, but we do. Pain of hunger, pain of cold, pain of injury. This is nothing. Not if it protects them."

"Then you'll stay?"

"Their chances of survival decrease greatly in the wild," she gazed down at him with a hollow sadness that bespoke how important it was to her that they all survive this. "I can deal with this for them." Sesshoumaru suddenly realized that besides noting how exposed their location was and the presence of Morenda and Kikyou, Akemi most likely had not really paid attention to anything else. Her brain was simply wired a certain way. "You say they are my pack," she nodded back to the miko phantom and kuroneko once again. "Strange pack I seem to have."

Sesshoumaru quirked the corner of his mouth. "They are not even the whole of it." Her eyes asked him the question he was plenty happy to answer. "An Exterminator, a hanyou, a miko and her miko phantom, the kuroneko, and well over a score more all claim you as alpha. They call you the lost one and pack mother. You saved many before you left them. If not for you many others would have gone Feral instead of just one."

She blinked at him. "I was that one?"

He nodded, "Your efforts to protect them often brought more abuse down on you instead."

"I do not remember," she shook her head. "If they have been so long without me surely they became Feral anyway."

It was Sesshoumaru's turn to shake his head as he lost eye contact. "You were away from us, we did not know anything was wrong until you ran instead of coming home." He tried to keep the tremble from his voice at the mere memory. "Once we had an inkling of trouble, Kagome went to where you had been and found the others. She has kept them sane though the toll of caring for so many often wears on her, she won't give up, she won't quit, for memory of you."

"Of me?" she wondered. "You non-ferals are strange."

"It was you who taught her to find her own strength," Sesshoumaru smirked. "And she has since used it against all the bullies that once teased her and to police my father on occasion. She is an alpha in her own right and you gave her the confidence to grow to her full potential. She probably feels that if she were to give up she would be failing you again." Sesshoumaru sighed before rising to his feet. Gently he coaxed her towards the bedrooms where he knew he had some spare cloths. It had been years since he had last been in this house, but when he was building it he had taken to keeping clothing on site so he wouldn't have to leave. They both needed clothing if she planned to stay and he knew she wouldn't mind if they belonged to him and didn't fit exactly right. Besides, she might feel better clothed.

Especially when they went out to speak with their visitors. They wouldn't be there without a reason…at least one beyond wanting to be around Akemi. His alpha was a piece of their lives that had been missing for a long time.

Maybe he should warn the Feral female that others from her old pack would probably be approaching her in numbers bound to make her nervous.


	15. Ch 14 MiniWonders

I was hoping to have a bit more done by now, but...well I do have two chapters written, but not typed up and they're aren't finished until I get the typed up. (I do my editting at the same time. My rewriting too, if it needs it.) Maybe I'll have one of them done in time for next week, but no promises. This week is not going to be a particuarly good one. We'll see.

I'm so busy. This last weekend was a combination shopping/R&R/research weekend. I'm in the market to buy my first new car and a new computer. I love the ones I have to be honest, but the car is a '91 station wagon losing paint and the computer is ten years old. (actually the computer is way more annoying than the old car. The car is golden since I moved down here but the computer is a spaz!) I can actually afford the expenses so I guess it's time now. 27 and buying my first car, I want to make it right.

But that has nothing to do with the story beyond pointing out that I did a bit of running around most of the weekend, so I'm really tired...and was out of town where my second dad could help me with the car and computer shopping. That's what dad's are for. I've still got a bit more looking and researching and shopping to do, but it's sufficiently started.

Akemi gets to see a very real proof of why she's made the decision to stay in this chapter. She's also dragged into society a little bit. So far she's only been in houses on private property of wealthy, powerful people. As we all know, that can't last...

**Mini-Wonders**

All of history is littered with the slow changes from war to peace brought about by better knowledge and understanding between the different peoples of the world. The Feral Female could no longer recall how she came by such knowledge or just who had a hand in bringing about such a realization, but she knew it was true just as she knew that rain fell from the sky and prey animals ate of green growing things.

She knew it, accepted it and refused to question such a solid fact in her mind. Especially not in the face of such obvious proof of how just such a principle had come to be a very real element of her situation. They apparently had no idea of what she was.

It was clear, from the wary looks and needless bracing of nerves in her Non-feral male and the two females that had stood in wait outside the shield of their very exposed new den. They expected her to bolt, to protest every strange new experience violently and irrationally, as they would a wild animal or youkai. She could have told them, she simply wasn't wild. She was Feral, a completely different beast, the term filled with a wide range of new and different behaviors.

But they seemed incurably unfamiliar with what Feral Behavior actually entails.

She had made her decision to stay for the sake of her unborn progeny and as such had accepted every strange and unusual thing and action she would have to perform as a result of that decision. Her male and her previously unknown pack were now her meter for danger and safety. She was Feral, not stupid. Her life depended upon her powers of observation and detection. While her ability to gauge risks and danger was not properly calibrated for her new environment, Sesshoumaru's was, and she would study him to learn it. But it was hard when everyone around her tensed up at each new thing simply because they thought she would balk.

When no one else was around it was easy to surmise their uneasiness was derived from her supposedly unpredictability. Around others she was unfamiliar with it would be a great deal more difficult to determine the source of each of their moods.

They arrived at the smelly, multi-storied white building without incident beyond the on-going argument between her non-feral male and the miko phantom. It seemed the concern her male expressed about her pain was not assuaged by her verbal dismissal of it and he was determined to get the miko phantom to correct the situation.

For the most part Akemi ignored them choosing instead to watch their surroundings for possible dangers since the other three had directed all their focus on the needless and pointless argument.

They didn't even notice when she stopped abruptly and was suddenly no longer in their company as they continued to walk. Absently she wondered if she should worry for them in their recklessness before dismissing the notion. This was supposed to be a place of healing and if any of them did come to harm for their lack of attention, it likely wouldn't prove fatal in such a place.

Besides, she had more compelling things to ponder.

Such as the reason for halting the purposeful forward motion. And the reason she stood staring in awe through the strange transparent material of the wall beside her.

The room beyond the glass wasn't particularly special. The walls and ceilings were white, lit brilliantly by the overly illuminative fixtures that seemed to be threaded throughout the building. The shiny, waxed tile flooring was much the same as under her stationary two feet. The beds were standard for the various rooms they had past so far on the trek for wherever it was she was being lead. The white sheets were starched and appeared stiff and uncomfortable, like every such set of bedding she had seen in the place.

No, the room was hardly different from any other on the long hall except for one simple thing. It was filled with young.

Intellectually, she had known that pups, if they survived, would eventually grow into a slightly smaller form of the adult versions of their parents. She knew, provided given the chance, they would learn speech and movement like any young thing of any species. In short, logic told her that eventually pups would mature into adults in slow progression, establishing individuality and independence.

She had just never seen the intermediary steps before now. The sudden sight of it kept her riveted in place.

Beyond the glass were creatures greater in size than the infantile lives produced by sister Ferals and wild youkai she had the chance to witness. They, some of them, managed to walk erect where she had only seen a sort of awkward limbed tumble and crawl. They're eyes clearly shone with the inner intelligence and awareness newborns usually lacked. The differences were astounding and miraculously beautiful.

Despite the obvious proof that these pups were not in perfect health, a few had limbs encased in a solid white substance preventing the movement of such limbs and others evinced other notable symptoms of ill-health, she could have happily watched them forever. Some of them cuddled together, others purposefully ignored the rest and one little boy sat curiously in the corner erecting towers of blocks, which he occasionally demolished in a fit of frustration or pique. It wasn't that they were entertaining or even particularly amusing, as most of them weren't doing much besides dozing and rocking; it was simply the shear awe that they were alive to do anything at all.

This was why she was staying in a place so likely to do her harm, to see her pups live. To know that even were they to become ill, be injured in someway, they would most likely survive. Every creature to ever conceive life desired to see the created progeny survive to procreate and continue on the genetic code. It was more than that for her. Oh there was the instinct for continuity of course, but she truly didn't care so much for it. Rather she felt as though she wanted them to live simply to see them grow, to have pack that she could keep.

She was unaware how long she stood there, entranced by such a rare vision, minutes and hours held no meaning to a Feral such as her. The passage of time was marked only by the transition of light into darkness and back again. She only knew that some amount of time passed before she became aware of a slight hand clutching onto two fingers of her clawed hand.

How she could've missed it she was unsure, but the moment she noticed her eyes instantly turned from the distracting view to the creature that gripped her most basic natural defense without heed of the danger. When her gaze fell to the culprit she could see the child had no real reason to fear though there was no way the little girl could've known that. The way Ferals were generally perceived by this "society" most would believe she would not hold back from eliminating the human pup. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this belief, that the little girl should have been aware of, was the reason for the strange item the miko phantom had insisted she wear over her eyes.

The child gazed back up at her, dark hair collected in an off-center tail and thumb stuck idly in her mouth. The little thing was strange to look upon, but wondrous all the same. Those brown eyes lacked even the slightest trace of fear or anxiety under her scrutiny, rather the girl pulled her appendage from her mouth to send a great gap toothed smile at her observer. And then the young one turned and began to walk away tugging on her hand.

Willingly the Feral inu allowed herself to be led into the room that had so captured her attention.

"Rin, you know you're going to get in trouble for being in here again," a short female youkai called to them from inside the room. This new child hobbled over to them using a pair for strange props. "The human nurses are getting annoyed that you don't stay with the others."

Rin simply issued the other girl the same bright smile Akemi had experienced previously in the hall. "I don't think she cares, Souten," a male confided "She still hasn't started answering their questions again."

"Shut up Satsuki," the now identified Souten retorted. "They still blame that part on the trauma. Constantly exposing herself to the more dangerous rooms of the hospital in favor of the supposedly safer human wards would put her under lock and key."

"It's not her fault if they can't figure out why she would feel safer with youkai than with humans," the boy shrugged. "Human robber murderers that kill your parents while you hide in a cupboard would do that to anybody."

Akemi followed her silent human guide to the corner that housed the red-haired youkai erecting the towers she had seen from outside. Insistent tugging brought her to the floor to rest beside the two adolescents. Rin proceeded to erect towers of her own using the hand not clutching her captured claws. After placing a few blocks to her liking, the child handed one over to the Feral female beside her.

With some encouragement Akemi added her block to the ones Rin had stacked and the child beamed in happiness. Their red-headed companion knocked down his latest creation, sending the different sized blocks skittering across the floor, one or two bumping into Rin's meticulously constructed tower in a cascade of colorful pieces. The little girl's smile faded and a frown materialized upon the previously bright face.

"Shippou, you apologize to Rin!" Souten demanded. "You knocked over her tower without her permission!" Despite her hobbling, the rambunctious female moved quickly to the little male to thump him solidly on the head for his bad behavior. Her wrist was caught before the blow could land.

"There is no need to strike him," Akemi told the female gently. Truly there wasn't. The poor kit had flinched at the first contact of one of his scattering blocks against the base of Rin's miniature building. In fact, he was still cringing away from them all in the corner.

Rin on the other hand simply sighed before restarting her previous work. Akemi let go of Souten when she was certain there would be no continued efforts to punish the little kitsune.

Souten huffed. "He doesn't always get the message," she claimed defensively. "He's always so out of it. It's hard to tell if he even knows any of the rest of us are here."

Again the boy from before interjected a comment into Souten's meddling. "The world is a suck-y place filled with nosy people like you! Why would he want to have anything to do with it if all the comfort he used to know was killed by a Feral stealing the livestock on his home grounds? Leave him alone. Even the nurses do that, Souten, why can't you?"

"You can't seem to do it either, Satsuki," a quiet boy sitting on a bed next to an even quieter and listless girl. The pale girl clutched her circular mirror closer when her companion spoke up. It was clear the boy had no liking for any of the rest of their companions and the girl probably hadn't noticed anyone else existed. "You never leave Kanna alone."

"That's because she has no reason to act like that!" Satsuki defended himself. "If you'd stop coddling her and threw an obstacle or two in her way she'd wake up and try to deal with it."

"So you think you know better than the people who went to school for years to treat this sort of thing," another girl sniffed in disdain. "Kanna's special you dork. That's why Hakudoushi was admitted with her. Shippou's just stubborn. He knows we're here, he knows what's going on, I know it. He just needs to stop pretending he doesn't. When bad things happen the world doesn't just stop because we're hurting, life goes on."

Akemi watched these pups interact. She had never known they could ever be so smart and though she didn't quite understand all of it, she understood enough to know it was probably a good thing the little kitsune couldn't see her eyes and that they didn't quite understand about life yet. "It is true that life goes on," she began carefully, "But a part of life is healing and everyone will heal each injury at a different pace." _If they healed at all _she added silently but didn't voice it out loud. This truth might not necessarily be true in this world of advanced healing techniques and real, growing pups so they didn't need to know.

The red-haired youkai looked up to her when she handed him one of the blocks that had skittered from his side of the play area. There was something like awe in his eyes. Too bad she was certain he wouldn't be showing such an expression if he knew she was Feral.


	16. CH 15 Jumping to Conclusions

Look! Look! A new CHAPTER of _Wild_! You were desperate for this weren't you?

Yeah I know, this story doesn't make or break your life, but the fight to get it down on paper and then in the computer makes this feel like an extremely HUGE accomplishment. Though this particular chapter wouldn't seem like such a difficult thing to get down. It was. It always is. Addressing a new character like this required inspiration and many failed prior attempts. Not to say his character is difficult to deal with, but the idea to start with him had to appear before I got anywhere.

I wonder if Rumiko Takahashi or really all authors face that from time to time. To start is harder than to continue. I'm serious about this. the only time starting a new chapter is easy is when the cliff hanger in the previous chapter clearly leads right into the next one. But to always do that is cruel...speaking of, heheh...

Cliff hanger at the end of this chapter! You love it, you know you do.

Since I took the time to sit down and work it all out, I decided to let you know the character ages in this story. I have a feeling some of the characters are being viewed to be younger or older than they are. Part of this is becuase I haven't exactly established how long it's been since the prequel, some of it is because there are newly introduced characters, so I thought I'd clear up any misunderstandings...

It has been anywhere from Six to Ten years since Akemi went into hiding so this places her age anywhere from 25-29. no surprise there. Therefore Sesshoumaru is between the ages of 29 and 33 so long as he remains four years older than Akemi. Inuyasha and KAgome are 23-25 so long as they are both two years younger than our favorite Feral. This puts the birth of Kagome's daughter no earlier then 19 because the kid is four years old and the baby is about 10 months. Sango is of course 24-28 with Miroku two years older. They have three kids, two girls and a boy. The boy is about six and the girls are 5 and 3. Sango is sort of due for another, but it hasn't happened yet. Kohaku is anywhere from 19-23, so long as he remains 6 years younger than Sango. Which leaves the only other important character of an unestablished age, Rin. Rin is around eleven regardless of howlong it's been since Akemi was brought back into the fold, and her thumb-sucking is related to her trauma and efforts to cope with it not to her mental/physical age. Full adults can sometimes regress to similar behaviors, so why not an eleven year old?

**Jumping To Conclusions**

Kohaku limped determinedly down the hall, every other step shooting hot pain through half his body. He was overdoing it and he knew it. The nurses always told him to sit down and rest after his physical therapy sessions twice a week, but he was as stubborn as his older sister and had long ago dismissed the best medical opinions. They were the ones who'd told he'd never walk again after the accident that had all but paralyzed one-half of his body.

If it were up to the doctor's and nurses, he'd still be tucked in bed watching daytime TV for the rest of his life. "Like hell," Kohaku growled to himself.

Still, when the burn was this bad he usually sat down to avoid the embarrassment of falling down as his body gave out. Again. He was just so driven to find the nomadic little girl the nurses were threatening to lock up in the psycho ward on suicide watch. That was the last place Rin needed to be.

Sometimes he wondered if members of the medical profession went to school so long to insure they lost touch with reality. Even the cop that had brought her in the night Rin's parents were murdered could understand why she would prefer the company of the supposedly "more dangerous" youkai children over that of the other obnoxious human ones.

Kohaku snorted dismissively. Kids of any species aren't terribly kind to their more quiet and traumatized fellows. He ought to know. He'd truly suffered from the company of his peers the way he foresaw Rin as doing for the whole of her adolescent life.

He was certain Rin would grow to hate idle curiosity as much as he had. And children were the only ones tactless enough to ask the obvious questions. Kohaku hated meeting new people. The staring and undisguised pity always turned his stomach. The questions on the mouths of other adolescence when he was growing up mobility impaired and orphaned only made his skin a little bit thicker.

Kohaku hated that Rin would have to go through some of the same things he had. He was rather fond of her quiet presence after his muscle building torture sessions.

That was part of the reason he refused to sit down and rest like he should. She wasn't in the human children's ward when he'd finished up his appointment with the physical therapist. So he was headed to the other likely place she'd be. On the other side of the friggin' hospital.

IT was times like these that Kohaku cursed how far apart the two wards were on the pediatrics floor. Logically, he understood why the two were kept so far apart. Youkai were extremely dangerous when injured or in pain, and most human children wouldn't not survive getting caught up in a youkai tantrum no matter how young the youkai. That didn't mean he had to care for the reasons when his leg shook with fatigue and warning of imminent collapse.

Add to that he didn't particularly care for the company of most youkai, a side affect of his own childhood trauma, and he was definitely not a happy camper. But he would go there if it meant preventing the hospital staff from finding out where Rin went again and locking her up under suicide watch. He just didn't have to be cheerful about it.

Actually, his sister had been telling him for years that Kohaku was a perpetual grump. He generally shrugged it off; constant pain was not conducive to a good mood in anybody. For him, life seemed to be nothing but pain with intermittent flare-ups of anxiety mixed in.

He would admit to being a chronic worrier. He worried for Sango when she was called out on a job and for his nieces and nephew when they went to interspecies school on weekdays. He worried for Kagome when she worked with the nearly Feral youkai of the Broken Pack, even the one she had practically adopted. Kohaku even worried about her kids whenever the Taishou came around to visit his grandkids and he didn't much like to spend time with the hanyou that sired them.

It was easier to say he was worried than afraid. Fear was a lot harder to deal with. And fear was exactly what he felt for Rin around the injured youkai she kept company with. Especially since he was well aware that his impaired mobility prevented him from being a worthy protector in the event that some youkai kid did decide to throw a tantrum, not the way any other member of his clan could.

At least they weren't Feral. Ferals were an entirely different terror all together. Thankfully, superstition supported the idea of immediate extermination of every Feral to intrude upon the settled lands of civilization. Let them stay in their wilds where no one cared if they lived or died.

Kohaku's breath heaved as he finally made it to the youkai children's ward and rested his forehead against the observation glass. He needed the break because the first thing he was going to do once he caught his breath was escort Rin back where she belonged before somebody official noticed where she'd got off to and started locking her in hospital rooms for her "own safety". He wasn't certain her mental health was being realistically considered when they threatened that course of action.

The last thing the girl needed was to be locked in a room with only her fears for company. It was yet another reason for him to question the supposed infallibility of all members in the medical profession.

Kohaku gave a derisive snort of laughter, as if he'd ever needed a reason to question people claiming authority in any line of work. His sarcastic humor swept away as quickly as it had come. He'd even questioned the slayers who'd attempted to train him.

Look where that landed him, a slayer unable to pursue his inherited calling who finally has the drive to want to. Hell, Kohaku would have been willing to track down anything inhuman and put an end to it all together after his childhood trauma. If he'd only had the ability to do so. Or so he swore if anybody asked him, which they wouldn't, feeling it insensitive to even broach the subject. Funny that. It wasn't insensitive to constantly remind him of his physical shortcomings, but to ask him that was.

Kohaku cursed their "sensitivity". If somebody was uncouth enough to bring up such a topic near him some other person always spoke up before he could. Usually they would slap him on the back and tell him how relieved he must be not to have to kill when it had always been against his nature. Such assholes did not stick around long if he had any say in the matter. Things had changed and Kohaku no longer cared that Ferals were simply victims of someone else's cruelty.

That argument held no power with him anymore. The way he saw it, being hurt by someone didn't give any creature the right to hurt another wholly unconnected creature. And that was what Ferals did. You either allowed yourself to be a victim, or you overcame whatever happened.

Kohaku quietly sighed out whatever breath he'd managed to catch in his chest before looking up to scan the ward beyond the glass for his quarry. Unfortunately, he failed to inhale again when every muscle in his body froze with terror, at what he perceived. There, beyond the glass, sat the innocent trusting child that reminded him so much of his past holding a _Feral Youkai by the Claw_.

The sunglasses the dangerous creature wore probably could have fooled everybody else in the hospital, but Kohaku was an exterminator by birth, descendant of the youkai slayers of old. He would have to be more than blind, brain dead and stuffed in a bag and buried before he would miss the signs of what she was. It was a skill that every slayer had to a greater or lesser degree, and it couldn't be taught. People had tried.

There was a stillness in every movement regular youkai just didn't have, an economy of motion even wild youkai failed to duplicate. Kohaku hadn't been so great at identifying them when he was younger, but being torn apart by one certainly fine-tuned his ability.

And there sat Rin, seemingly holding the creature tame under her tiny hand.

Rin!

The realization the little girl was actually sitting next to the most dangerous type of creature on the planet spurred his fear-stilled body into action as he bolted for the door to rescue her from imminent death or dismemberment.

He was a fool to take the Feral head on at a charge. She knew he was there, had known it the minute he'd leaned against the glass, probably. Kohaku's body was already shaking from over exertion and the sudden rush of adrenalin. On a job, the goal was to take the target by surprise. Cornered animals were deadly, cornered Ferals were a hundred times worse. He was doing things all wrong, but he didn't care. He wasn't about to let Rin go through the same thing he did.

The door slamming against the wall from his sudden, violent entry startled everyone in the room except the Feral. Even the unresponsive Kanna practically jumped a foot in the air.

"Geez, Kohaku –" Began Souten's annoyed tirade. The person in question chose to ignore her, which only annoyed her more.

"Get away from her!" Kohaku's voice was a bit high with fear, not to mention thunderous against sensitive ears in such a closed space.

"Kohaku, you're making my ears bleed," Satsuki grumbled angrily. His less than subtle hint that Kohaku was acting inconsiderate was ignored by both the fool perpetuating the behavior and the Feral the noise was originally meant for.

Kohaku only had eyes, ears and senses for the danger to Rin right now. He didn't bother to even blink as he watched the Feral calmly climb to her feet, stooping just a bit to account for the solid grip still wrapped around a set of claws. "I said get away from her!" he repeated. He didn't specify whom he was talking about as only one of the two would understand him. Everyone knew Ferals didn't talk.

Rin was apparently in one of her more willful moods as instead of moving away from the Feral like he'd told her to, she leapt up and wrapped her arms around the female's waist tightly. Firmly placing her body in Kohaku's strike zone and blocking him from his target.

Her sudden move left the Feral suddenly tense and uneasy. The little girl certainly wasn't her pack nor particularly familiar. She had Akemi essentially trapped and that was never a good thing. No creature who'd ever suffered abuse liked the feeling of being caged or restrained. And the knowledge that the new comer was threatening danger while she was in such a position made it that much worse.

The human young thing was to be protected.

Kohaku tensed when the Feral did. In his experience such preparatory moves preceded the leaping and the pouncing and the extensive bodily harm. And Rin was still the closest one to the threat. This was bad, very bad, and he was the only one with the knowledge of how to take out a Feral in the room. It made him glad he'd had the forethought to grab a pair of scissors from the tray in the hall. It was an inadequate weapon, but better than bare hands.

Youkai noses twitched as the scent of blood threaded through the otherwise sterile room. The owners of which were beginning to believe this situation just might be more serious than anyone could have fathomed. Kohaku had apparently come unhinged and as far as they knew, could begin attacking them at random. It didn't take rocket science to figure out the former slayer didn't like youkai much. The stench of his fear every time he became aware of youkai company said it all.

No one had predicted he would go all-postal on them one day. He was half paralyzed after all and smart enough to realize he wouldn't survive it…It seemed they were all wrong.


	17. Ch 16 Pocket Your Shears

Bet you thought I was dead. Well, I'm not. But I did get a brand new computer.

It's Shiiiiny. And portable which is good. But not hooked up to a wireless network, which is also good. (Makes me focus on the things that I need to do off-line while on the computer - like type up my story.)

In another couple weeks I should be getting a new car. so I'm all about new right now...excepting this story. I'm all about finishing the old too!

So, are you ready for the bloodshed and massacre of youkai brats splattered across pristine whit walls and faux marble tile floors?

Well good, because it's soooo not going to happen. Seriously, did you think I was going to make you actually read a bad thing in a children's ward? Shame on you. or something. I do try to keep somewhat within the scope of Rumiko Takahashi, and while some episodes were rather gory, she usually didn't go overboard making you watch it happen.

Anyways, I present you with this new chapter (typed on my new computer yesterday...shiiiiny!)

**Pocket Your Shears**

Fortune telling has been a particularly controversial calling since it first occurred to the world that it might be worthwhile to see just that little bit farther into the future than the everyday layman. The people who claim it a profession have been both greatly respected and generally discounted by turns throughout history. We cannot keep ourselves from wanting to know what comes next before it happens because oftentimes the unforeseen creates chaos and devastation. And the possibility that anyone _might_ have such ability can never be discounted as there are many instances where, without assistance, most everyone can predict the next few minutes, hours, and sometimes even days.

Such is the case in the youkai children's ward of the main medical facility in the western territories. It was obvious something was about to happen, something unpleasant and quite possibly violent. And there was definitely going to be bloodshed. Kohaku's self-afflicted wound was hardly likely to suddenly seal itself while the scissors were still digging into the injured part of his hand.

Akemi was possibly most firm in her knowledge of what would come after this moment. It was clear that the broken slayer was thoroughly blinded by his fear of whatever it was that had scarred him before she ever left the wilds. He was going to attack her as the most obvious and visible threat.

Normally, in the wild, she would be able to pursue her standard tactics when faced with a situation scented with the metallic tang of shed blood. She would run as no Feral wanted to be anywhere near an area that smelled of such things. The crimson aroma would draw predators of every breed from miles around either to fight over the meat or finish off the bleeder. Only a fool lingered at the site of a kill and let the smell pool about them. And if it wasn't the predators that came, it was the scavengers.

But, in a stark white room, with only one visible exit blocked by the very bearer of the scent, running was not an option.

Akemi was capable of fighting the handicapped exterminator. Her strength and speed, even in confined quarters, would be more than enough to best the slower male. Even if she was pupped and risked losing them from the fight, she would do what had to be done to survive.

That wasn't her problem.

The children around her and attached to her were. Akemi didn't want such precious things to be harmed. And it was clear, Kohaku had eyes only for the threat she posed. She didn't think he even saw the human girl that he had been most worried for anymore. And that was the worst of all, because, of all the creatures in the room right now, the human girl was the most vulnerable to injury if he choose to escalate the situation to violence and the least able to handle it.

He truly was a broken fool.

And there was no way for her to fix this, to protect them.

"Didn't your sister ever tell you not to run around with open scissors?" a familiar voice scolded Kohaku from the hall. "Tch, well if she didn't she should have," Morenda added, pushing the startled boy to the side before Sesshoumaru could run over him.

"Wait! Stop! There's a Feral in here, go call Sango!" Kohaku tried to warn off the western heir and Kagome's miko phantom. Dangerous or not, his job was to protect the non-ferals from the Ferals.

"We know Kohaku," Morenda patted him on the shoulder, careful not to turn her back to him. Sango's brother really didn't like her much and she wasn't about to ignore the threat he posed to her while he was armed with a set of shears. "Now just what were you thinking threatening a room full of children with a set of open scissors? Have _you_ gone Feral now?"

"Don't tease him, Morenda," Kikyou admonished her. "He can't have expected to see Akemi here, in a hospital so far from the wilds. It's highly unlikely word has gotten around that quickly."

"So?" Morenda grumbled.

"It is entirely possible news of Sango's pardoning of Akemi is not known to him. He does not share a home with his sister any longer." Kikyou added.

"That's still no reason to go attacking her in a small room filled with so many others for him to accidentally injure during the attempt to contain her supposed threat. I'm hardly sane and I know that." Morenda snorted.

"The slayer is broken," Akemi declared from the huddle of bodies keeping her from Kohaku's direct view.

"She spoke," Kohaku stared in her direction unbelieving of such a possibility. "She's not supposed to be able to speak."

"If you call this-"

"He is human, so to him this is true speech," Sesshoumaru cut Akemi off from the familiar line. "Why did you leave us?"

Akemi snorted, "I merely stopped walking; you are the ones who continued without me. I saw them," she gestured to the room filled with young. "I have never seen such before."

"Surely in the wild-"

"The wild youkai keep their young secure and Feral young do not live beyond a year. They are precious," Akemi concluded. "He would not have attacked had I not come inside."

"Had she not been so close, Kohaku probably would have been rational enough to call his clan in," Kikyou observed. "We should be thankful that did not occur. It would have been a lot harder to restrain a squad of exterminators rather than just one."

"Are you really Feral?" Souten asked from her crutches looking up into Akemi's face. "What's it like? What drove you Feral? Can you do any cool tricks that normal youkai can't? What's the point of going Feral anyway? I had an uncle they tell me went Feral."

"Souten, that's rude," Satsuki sniffed. "Everyone knows that the 'Lost One' Akemi going Feral is how the Broken Pack was discovered."

"Yeah, but what drove her Feral? These are things they never tell anyone who wasn't directly involved," Souten continued undaunted. "Why didn't she come back sooner if she wasn't Feral anymore? The Broken Pack could've used her help. Why didn't the Broken Pack follow her if being Feral wasn't permanent?"

"Shut up brat!" Morenda growled at the nosy child. She never liked the topics surrounding the broken pack being brought up and it made it worse to have it discussed so irreverently. That was her pain they expressed such idle curiosity about and it hurt to hear it.

Akemi was not offended, though she recoiled slightly from Souten's advance. These non-Ferals were far too fond of intruding on a Feral's personal space. "Being Feral is much like being non-Feral," she answered softly, voice even and unperturbed. "When you are Feral you cannot understand fully what it is to be non-feral. Is it not the same with being non-feral?"

Souten blinked, not really expecting an answer to the question.

"She can talk?" Kohaku was slow in realizing the actuality of the situation.

"Yeah, she can," Morenda rolled her eyes. "She's only been talking to everybody in the room."

"Now that we've established that Akemi has come to no harm and done no harm, we need to continue with our original purpose for being here," Kikyou declared blandly.

"Taking the Feral out of here for extermination?" Kohaku asked hopefully.

Morenda and Kikyou gave him a flat look.

"We have an appointment set up for Akemi," Sesshoumaru declared with finality.

"Are you nuts? What kind of maniac sets up a _doctor's_ appointment for a Feral?" Kohaku demanded, disbelief was becoming a permanent part of his day.

"The kind who understands she is not a threat to society and clearly deserving of every kindness and consideration any other person is," Morenda answered snidely.

"But she's Feral," Kohaku protested.

"And the people who drove her that way were more of a danger as non-ferals than she is now," Kikyou declared growing slightly impatient.

"A Feral is a Feral is a Feral," Kohaku argued. "You can't just stop being Feral. It's a one way street."

"Ko-Kohaku," a small voice, rough with disuse called out to interrupt their pointless arguing. "She's not a bad youkai," Rin declared, her tones broken and rusty but stoutly certain of what she said. Even the fine trembling of the kitsune stuck to her shoulder couldn't alter her decree.

Kohaku blinked at his small after therapy companion, once again unable to comprehend the truth of the situation. Rin, who had not made a sound in three straight months, had spoken on behalf of the Feral he was arguing against. While he could discard the arguments of a half-Feral youkai female and an ancient, displaced and inadequately briefed miko phantom, he knew Rin. He understood where she was coming from because she was like him, avoiding that which was like the creator of the chronic nightmare, strange humans for her, Ferals and youkai for him.

One thing he had learned about Rin after all these months, her character judgment was always spot on. She didn't avoid all humans because of her fear, but if she did avoid someone, it was because she sensed something that later proved out that she was right. That the avoided person was deserving of avoidance.

There was no reason to imagine she wasn't as good with youkai.

Kohaku sighed wearily; going out on this limb already had him aching from the stress.


	18. Ch 17 Lessons in Bedside Manner

And you thought the hospital fun was over...PFFFTTTT! As if!

I'm having entirely too much fun with my new computer. I discovered all the free game demos this last week. That was soooo bad for me. I sat a played four of the find and seek/hidden object games and a questing puzzle game in four days, two just yesterday and the two yesterday had 60 and 30 levels in the demo. Seriously, I was laaaazzzzyyy! so today I went out and got sunburnt. Apparently when I play, there is no middle ground. It's either all in, all day, or not at all, vegetable. I lack the ability of moderation, even at work, which was rather lousy last week. Everything decided it had to go wrong, or at least not go smoothly. And I had to recover from that on short hours of sleep. (the sleep thing is all dog related, so don't get me started. My dog is fine, it's just the stuff I had to do for her this last week cut into my sleep schedule is all.)

But that's okay, it's all good, because this week will be better. I will definitely sleep hard tonight. heheh, red skin not withstanding.

This chapter adresses more of what Akemi will run into in this non-Feral world she's agreed to stay in. So far we've only seen her with people we were already, sort of familiar with. characters from the anime and the prequel to this fic, _Feral_. These are all characters initimately involved and informed about this specific feral and the situation. Surely you don't think Akemi will never run into people who aren't?

After all, in the original anime, every time Inuyasha and company encountered a new town it was all with the "you may stay, but not the hanyou/youkai in the group". It was a slap in the face to us, the audience because we knew Inuyasha and gang very well. Kagome often expresses her disbelief with the behavior they encounter in first meetings with new people, specifically humans. Because she knows Inuyasha and Shippou. Who's to say that if Kagome was intimate with the townspeople who behaved in this way instead of with dogboy she would act the same as them?

Rumiko Takahashi can continue to use such instances because the general superstition and minimal interspeciel interaction is prevalent in each community regardless of how little each new town has with any other little town.

oh and a bit of a disclaimer here: I in know mean to show disrespect to the medical profession. It takes a lot to go through all the rigorous training to become certified and then licensed to perform medicine in most countries...but you have to admit, book smart does not equate with common sense and typically most people who surround themselves with people they only compete with as they are all pursuing the same goal are often ill-equipped to deal with other types of people. Just a thought.

**Lessons in Bedside Manner**

As the nature of this doctor's visit was of a specific nature likely to arouse anxiety in all associated with its occurrence it was unsurprising that nearly everyone in the tiny examination room was unable to sit still. The pacing and tapping of fingers was accompanied by the excited bouncing of Rin and the uncomfortable shifting of Kohaku as the two had become acquainted with the type of appointment they had the dubious pleasure of sitting in on.

Kohaku wasn't exactly thrilled to be stuck in a popular nightmare of most men his age. There weren't many guys that looked forward to being present for a pelvic examination of women they were afraid of. Add to that the company of two other women, another male, and a child and he really didn't think this situation could get any worse. He'd be pacing if his leg would still hold him.

But he wouldn't leave. Rin wouldn't leave and he wouldn't leave her alone with any of the people in the room. As much as he trusted the girl's ability to judge people he just couldn't bring himself to trust it _that_ much. Trusting her was easy, trusting them-that was another story.

Rin was amazingly excited, practically bouncing off the walls in her joy despite the kitsune attempting to weight her down. Her mama had been expecting before the bad men had broken down her world. She'd been so looking forward to being a big sister too.

Yet another dream stolen by the bad men.

But not this time, Rin was determined to be a big sister to these babies, they needed her and she would do anything to see to it that these ones got to live. She would be the best big sister anyone could ever wish for.

Shippou was still so terrified at being close to a Feral that he couldn't get his frozen claws to let go of Rin's shirt back. Though, with her joy getting more and more kinetic as her excitement mounted he was beginning to wish he could let go more because of the motion sickness than because of his paralyzing terror at being this close to a leaving reminder of the day his world stopped turning. Hell, the Feral's lap was looking more and more like an oasis of calm every second.

Morenda paced the length of the room where Kohaku could not. Her energy was a mix of nerves and excitement. She didn't like confined spaces for more reasons than Akemi didn't like them. Morenda remembered the Northern school and the hell they went through there, Akemi didn't. But she wouldn't leave. Akemi had protected her and all of them before, saving the Broken Pack from losing more numbers to the wilds and being Feral. Morenda was determined to return the favor this time around. She would protect Akemi.

By comparison, the youkai for whom the appointment was made was a statue in her stillness. Akemi did not pace nor fidget. There was no need. Her nerves were no more excited by this crowded, tiny, and confining room than they were in the wide, silent, and frozen wilds where every hunt bore the likely risk of drawing the attention of other hungry hunters.

These non-ferals were hardly likely to neither eat her nor kill her to take her prey. Neither were they likely to corner her for the same reasons as a male Feral. Therefore her anxiety was no greater than under the fear of the unexpected and unknown and easily coped with. This was something of the ordinary in her everyday life anyway, every step fraught with peril. The only person in the room more still and calm was the miko phantom and it's darn near impossible to be more stoic than the dead.

The prince of enigma, Sesshoumaru actually appeared more anxious than his companion though both sat companionably on the floor, comparatively calm and collected as they waited for the physician assigned to monitor their developing pups.

Into this emotionally charged room, the bold Dr. Harold Finkweildy, M.D. strode without visible fear or worry. As an established OBGYN, Harold was used to the emotional milieu often surrounding couples anticipating spawning. Granted all the activity and high emotion was usually reserved to just the expectant parents who, most often, came to these appointments without an audience, he was still not fazed by the presence of a larger crowd. Nor was he particularly worried by them.

Early in his career, like most doctors, Harold had learned that a medical practitioner who allowed himself to be caught up in the storm of sentiment surrounding his patients was very quickly a burnt out shell. The patients had only their own particular circumstances to react to and worry over, doctors had several patients at one time and each had a different set of emotional situational overtones.

In professional self-defense, Dr. Finkwieldy had adopted a certain type of apathy many of his predecessors had assumed before him. He did not really care about them or their fears and anxieties. The only reason he choose this particular branch of medicine was so he could grope women who definitely put out, occasionally flirting with the ones who showed up without the father and definite plans of abortion.

This particular situation offered nothing to really interest him. The female was Feral, and crazy wasn't his thing. She showed up with two males, and men included in sexual activities also weren't his thing. And of the other females that were in attendance, one was nearly crazy, one was post dead, and one was pre-nubile, all definitely not his type.

So flirting was out and he wasn't even interested in groping. The expectant mother was Feral. The last thing the world needed was more dangerous Ferals running around. He didn't know what these people were thinking, bringing such a creature into a typically safe house of healing, but he knew what his social duty was in this situation. And he had no compunction in fulfilling it with very little politesse, it wasn't like the Feral would understand him anyway.

Without introducing himself or bothering with an initial examination, Dr. Finkwieldy, OBGYN, set about doing the socially responsible thing, "I understand you're expecting four pups. Have we decided which ones to terminate or will we be terminating the entire pregnancy?" It wasn't like partial termination was uncommon in most multiple pregnancies among human and youkai alike anyway. Youkai especially tended to opt to fleece out a litter early on for health reasons.

The response that met these words was hardly surprising. Every throat in the room that could growl proceeded to do just that and of the three that didn't, one proceeded to deliver a swift kick to the good doctor's shin dislodging her kitsune growth with the violently swift movement while Kohaku snorted at his stupidity.

Rubbing his abused shin, Harold glared down at the girl child that impertinently glared right back at him. He hated kids. "Somebody should teach you better manners, kid," Dr. Finkwieldy grumbled. He hated kids that bothered him even more than just the abstract dislike he supported through his everyday life.

"You're one to talk about manners, fool," Kikyou glared at him frigidly. "For in this instance she is right and you were way out of line in your behavior."

Morenda growled again grumpily, if she thought she could get away with anything close to a simple kick to his shin she'd have done it herself. He was more than rude; he was insulting of the female she felt was owed a great deal more than they could offer. And he was playing with fire, threatening the young of a Feral like that.

Rin took the sound as her cue to kick him again. She was _going _to be a big sister. Her new friend's babies _would _be born even if she had to beat the crud out of every fool who threatened them herself. And she could get away with it too. Her time as a voluntary mute had taught her that when you're only mode of communication was physical gestures, there was a great deal she could do to get her point across and the grander the gesture the more urgent and strong the feeling.

"Stop that you little-" the doctor began, annoyance strong in his tone.

"I believe we should remove this discussion to the hallway," Kikyou cut him off pointedly. "I don't think we want such an inferior doctor tending to our companion anyway."

Morenda nodded as she shoved the doctor back out the door he had just barely come through. "I don't understand how Kagome's request could have been so ignored. She asked for a doctor, not a fool, and a female practitioner to boot."

"She asked for the best," the OBGYN growled, greatly insulted at the continued reference to himself as less than the excellent professional he was. His reputation was impeccable, beyond minor complaints of harassment. His medical knowledge and advice was beyond reproach. He'd made certain of it. Harold would accept nothing but the best from himself.

"Well, obviously you're reputation is horribly incongruous with your capabilities," Morenda growled back.

"My professional history is perfect. I have lost none of my patients even when-" Dr. Finkwieldy attempted to establish his credentials.

"You are a fool," Kikyou stated without preamble. "I know for a fact that Kagome made exceptionally clear that termination, even partial, was not an option. Youkai are not born Feral they are driven that way."

"Even if they weren't," Morenda snorted "That Feral in there is carrying the direct, full-blooded descendants of the Inu no Taishou. Even if the possibility that they might be born Feral was greater than it is; the Taishou would not give up the hope that they would be born non-feral. And you just threatened to kill that hope."

Dr. Harold Finkwieldy, M.D., first class OBGYN, blanched violently. Everyone knew the Inu no Taishou needed an heir since Sesshoumaru refused to fill the position anymore. And offspring by the hanyou couldn't inherit. The youkai in the territory would rebel first, their lacking greater youkai heritage preventing the very possibility. It wouldn't be too farfetched to imagine the cardinal lord would attempt to preserve these pups even if both parents were Feral so long as they were of his blood and full inu. If word got back to Taishou over this bit of uninformed foolishness on his part, his future looked bleak.

Rin glared up at him. He was upset for the wrong reasons. She stomped on his foot to let him know she still thought he was in the wrong.

Kikyou watched the good doctor hop up and down on one foot while cradling the severely abused foot in his hands. "You still do not understand what you did wrong in there." She shook her head. "You were wrong to assume termination was an option before even checking her over. Feral though she may be, she is still an expectant mother and deserving of your, apparently non-existent medical courtesy. What's more, her companions were not Feral, not even the father who sat next to her in that room. Even if Akemi could not understand what was said," Kikyou continued coldly –"Which she can, moron," Morenda grumbled to the side.- "He and we could, and you did not consider us. With such evidences of the importance of these young to somebody you still went in there and called for termination without even bothering to introduce yourself. This tells me you need serious lessons in appropriate beside manners." Kikyou glanced down the white hallway in which they stood. "But I do not have time for it right now. Akemi needs a new obstetrician, so your teaching shall be left in the capable hands of Morenda and our young companion." With that she turned away and left Harold to the tender mercies of two very upset females.

Rin studied the male before her critically. He needed major punishment for his words to her new friend. Just the thought that somebody like this could've said something like that to her own mother upset her even more. The lesson she intended to give should cement it into his head that bad manners like his could sometimes have seriously violent consequences.

Firming up her plan of attack, Rin stepped in front of Morenda with her back to the taller female and raised up her arms with a glance over her shoulder. The gesture was a fairly universal request to be lifted that Morenda understood even as she complied, curious as to what Rin meant to do.

As Morenda couldn't touch the good doctor without risking being labeled Feral herself, she would simply aid Rin however she could. Which wasn't much beyond lifting the mini Amazon warrior at the start of a rather effective beat down, for when Rin judged she was high enough she let out such a strong kick to Dr. Finkwieldy's groin causing the doctor to crumple like a house of cards. Morenda let go of Rin in astonishment which turned out to be exactly what the child wanted anyway, for once she had him on the ground she kicked him over onto his back before straddling him and bouncing down onto his stomach, winding him in one swift oomph. Then she bounced on him a few more times to get the point across, ignoring the glances thrown their way by passing medical staff. All of whom quickly decided to mind their own business after Morenda's red warning glare was thrown their way, so Rin was capable of punishing the much disliked Harold Finkwieldy without interference.

The good doctor had it long in coming, apparently.


	19. Ch 18 The Feral Mindset

Ta-dah! another chapter of your latest, favorite fanfic!

What'd you think of that beat down in the last chapter. Bet you didn't think an eleven year old girl could do something like that. heheh!

I kept rewriting that chapter or changing what I wanted to have happen, but I just couldn't cut out Rin kickin' butt. It had to be in there. Rumiko Takahashi made her an incredibly strong character in the anime, but she never allowed her to shine on her own. The character went to great lengths to save Jaken and stay with Sesshoumaru, but she never got the chance to beat the crap out of somebody for them because, well, the two were already capable of taking care of those kinds of problems on their own. As untrained as they made point of showing she was, I bet Rin in the anime was quite capable of scratching and biting like a fierce little thing if the situation called for it. The fact the she wouldn't do so in her own defense says nothing.

The Rin and Kagome characters proved again and again their motivation was the needs of their companions. They needed nothing else. Granted, Kagome would stand up for herself if the occasion warranted it, such as Inuyasha verbally abusing her or some youkai trying to force her into marriage, but she was older than Rin, raised in a different culture, and with a particularly supportive mother. Rin was not.

I think it was refreshing to see an eleven year old get away with a beat down she couldn't be prosecuted for. But that's me. Anyone over the age of eleven had better have better reasons for fighting in any case.

Akemi finally gets her prenatal exam out of the way and we get a bit more of Kohaku's reaction to this strange situation he finds himself in.

**The Feral Mindset**

The altercation with an obstetrician for the Feral Akemi ended the moment Dr. Finkwieldy had been escorted from the room. At least that was true in the Feral's way of thinking. The strange white-coated male had left without even laying a finger on her, and while he had, with his words, threatened the lives of her young in a sort of incomprehensible sort of way, it was nothing to fuss over.

Words meant very little in the larger scheme of things. They certainly didn't break bones or end lives in any way that a feral could identify with so it was particularly unsurprising that Akemi did not feel compelled to lash out or defend her young who were in this instance under no real threat. After all, she was here because there were better chances of mother and pups making it through all this alive here. Her non-feral male would see to it that nothing bad happened. He was pack. And his efforts to persuade her to stay were all honest and earnest. He couldn't lie to her if he tried. Therefore, there was no real danger in this situation.

Kohaku on the other hand, was amazed at her composure. He'd expected a full on ferocious reaction to the doctor's words, he'd even tensed in anticipation of having to step forward to police (ahem, exterminate) the Feral in the line of the rest of his clan. Not that he could take her out on his own, but he might be able to prevent a full on massacre of the hospital inhabitants before the rest of his clan could get her. But, other than the initial communal growl from all the youkai in the room, she had made no obvious reactions.

Instead, the small room descended into a rather still, expectant silence when the others departed from the room.

"I'm sorry about that," Sesshoumaru murmured softly to his alpha despite the knowledge she didn't rightly care about the situation one way or the other. "You deserve better treatment."

"He did not even touch me," Akemi closed her eyes calmly.

"But he threatened you," Kohaku pointed out.

She opened her eyes and blinked at him. "So? In the wild, we do not live by avoiding the mere threat of things. A simple step outside our dens is fraught with dangers and threats, and yet we still go out to hunt. We do not turn tail in fear any more than we attack the air for holding the hint of threat. A threat means nothing."

"Then why do Ferals attack the exterminators before they even get their weapons out," the broken slayer demanded. "Why do they attack innocents that have done nothing wrong?"

Akemi eyed him speculatively, "These Ferals you speak of, they are not in the wild, when you hunt them, yes?" Kohaku nodded, only a fool would hunt a Feral in the wild. "And why are they there, have you ever bothered to find out? Do they leave the wilds because they are starving, because their homes have been destroyed, and their ability to survive compromised? Are they not outside their habitual and preferred habitat, beyond all they know by experience?"

Kohaku blinked in obtuse incredulousness. "That still doesn't give them the right to attack-"

Akemi glared at him, "In their minds they are not the ones who attacked first. It was non-ferals who attacked by destroying their means of survival. If a Feral looks beyond his wilds out of desperation to survive, which is the very nature of how some youkai become Feral, it is not through a willful desire to cause harm. They are starving, so they seek food. Then they are attacked, physically threatened for taking that which is a basic need for survival, so they react as they would in the wild, fighting over a kill. They fight back." Akemi shifted her gaze from the broken slayer to a spot on the wall. "Life in the wilds is brutal, painful, and oftentimes fatal. Most do not survive the first year." Her gaze swept back to his face consideringly. "Those who choose to live there do not come to that choice easily."

"Tell that to the ones like him," Kohaku gestured to the trembling kit cowering in the corner.

Akemi glanced at Shippou, "His being alive is a testament to how much my version of events applies. His family probably held a significant amount of food, either by raising it or storing it. The Feral most likely intruded for the purpose of retrieving some food. His parents attempted to keep what was theirs. The Feral fought for it as would happen in the wild. The Feral did not slaughter the kit that was not a threat, even if he had attacked the Feral, the kit would most likely only have been batted aside or knocked unconscious depending upon how dire the Feral's situation was." Her gaze went back to Kohaku, "If Ferals were truly the unreasoning beasts or even the monsters you believe us to be, the Feral that attacked the Kitsune would have started with the slaughter of the entire family before going for the food so that no one would be alive to call in the exterminators."

Shippou blinked as he realized her version did make a smidge of sense. He could remember his parents' hushed conversations about Ferals being more of a threat since the local branch of the wilds had been cut into to build a new casino and resort. They'd already seen more of the wild life as regular foxes and a couple of deer escaped the woods at the edge of the property in search of food. They were hungry and being forced to leave in order to find enough to eat. It followed that the Ferals would have to come out also.

He wasn't sure if he liked what this meant. On the one hand it meant that his parents hadn't been killed because of some random attack from an unthinking beast out to get him and make him miserable. On the other hand, his parents still hadn't done anything to deserve it. "My parents didn't attack first," he whispered in a broken voice of his own.

Akemi glanced gently at him, "No, but Ferals see most non-ferals as all the same, in the way that you see all Ferals as the same."

Shippou blinked in surprise.

"Yeah well, Ferals don't always leave the kids alone," Kohaku grumbled.

Sesshoumaru growled in irritation, "You were there armed to take that one out, it struck out in self-defense. You are still alive after all."

Kohaku glared at him, but Akemi cut him off before he could retort. "Not all Ferals are the same. We are a product of nature and experience just as, I imagine, non-ferals are. Some come to the wilds driven to believe violence is the only path to insuring personal safety, some would rather hide, and some pursue some middle ground. But we are all extremes due to that which drove us Feral in the first place."

"If you strike an animal, often as not that animal learns to lash out first to protect itself," Sesshoumaru added. "The same applies to humans, why not to youkai as well?"

"You have a right to your fears and your caution," Akemi stated flatly. "You have learned them through the many things that happen in your life. But be careful that you do not allow them to control you, that your fear does not dictate your behavior or the direction of your life. That way lies danger as not all similar situations have the same overtones."

"I thought Ferals couldn't talk," Shippou slid down the joined walls to sit comfortably on the same level as the Feral and her male.

"If you call this-" Akemi began only to be cut off by Sesshoumaru.

"Akemi has the ability to understand and speak under certain special circumstances," the nominal western heir answered the kits idle curiosity. It was harmless unless those 'special circumstances' were known. He had a nightmarish vision of people running around 'hurting' Ferals so that they could talk. That would be a bad situation for all those involved. "It is not necessarily the same for all the others, but it is so for Akemi."

Kikyou chose that moment to return with a new, white-coated female in tow. "I found us a new doctor."

"My name is Dr. Audrey Chorin," the bespectacled, short, youkai female nodded her greetings around the room. "I'd like for you to get up on the table for me if you could. And take off those ridiculous shades; I'll be doing a full physical examination, not just a pelvic and they would just get in the way. I know you're Feral so it's not like you'll be giving anything away."

"You know she's Feral and you still agreed to do this," Kohaku murmured sarcastically. "You must be nuts."

Dr. Chorin punched her glasses a bit farther up the bridge of her nose as she studied him with decided dislike. "I've agreed to do this if I get to document everything for the sake of science and society. My elder sister is one of the Broken Pack, one of the borderline Ferals, and she's set to be mated at the end of this year," Audrey informed him. "She'll be the first of the borderline Ferals to be mated off and a mating could send her either way."

"You seek knowledge of what would come after she goes Feral," Akemi observed. "You want to know if there can still be hope even if she falls."

"I thought Kagome had all the Borderlines on orders against mating," Sesshoumaru murmured in confusion.

"She does," Kikyou answered. "But those under the other cardinal lords are not required to follow her edicts once regaining custody of the girl in question. The Chorin's were one of the few Kagome trusted with a Borderline as they seemed very anxious to do right by their unfortunate daughter."

"And we are, but it's been years," Audrey nodded sagely. "And there has been no change for the better or worse. Our parents decided a mating may be the catalyst needed to spur a change in any direction." Dr. Chorin offered in her parent's defense, as she helped Akemi up onto the examination table. She didn't agree with the tactics they were using, but her parents were right, any sort of change was better than this stagnant nothing. It had to be better for her sister too.

"And so you wish to turn my alpha into a guinea pig in order to soothe your own mind," Sesshoumaru demanded evenly. He was withholding judgment until she answered this one question.

"No!" Audrey gasped in insulted anger. "She may be Feral, but she protected my sister when none of the rest of us knew anything was wrong. If not for Akemi then we'd have lost her long before the Broken Pack was even discovered. My sister wouldn't be a borderline, she'd be Feral and lost to us."

"Peace, Dr. Chorin," Kikyou cut in. "Sesshoumaru only wanted to be certain you would protect his alpha from the idle scientific curiosity of your peers and others who would not see her as who she is but what she is."

"His alpha?"

"Yes, Akemi has been Sesshoumaru's chosen alpha since before she was sent away to that place," Kikyou nodded.

"I apologize for becoming so-" Audrey began only to be cut off.

"It is all right, he provoked you on purpose," Akemi declared. "You're reaction proved more than mere words."

It was Audrey's turn to be struck mute. It was a common disease suffered by many when first acquainted with the Feral's ability to speak. It was not allowed to last long before the long-extended prenatal examination was gotten under way and successfully completed without further disturbances.


	20. Ch 19 Traffic Law

Hello boys and girls, it's time for another installment of your favorite periodically posted fanfic by yours truly!

well something like that anyway. I also thought I would announce that there will not be a chapter posted next weekend. I'm going out of town, and while I will be taking my beautiful, shiny computer with me, I doubt very much that I will remember to get on-line and post a chapter along with all the other stuff I plan to do next weekend...and I plan to do a lot. Besides, the time of regular posts ended about a month ago anyway.

Did you know that this is the largest number of chapters I have posted under a single story entry? It's true. _Chronicles of the Fall_ is the only fic o' mine that's longer, but it was broken up into parts before I posted it. And none of those parts have this many chapters in them. Wow, huh?

I mean, not every writer can go as long as Rumiko Takahashi.

In this chapter we get Akemi's view on cars. heh, you thought I'd missed the oppurtunity to deliver that reaction didn't you. Well Akemi is a master of the hidden reaction. Here she is surrounded by a world that makes very little sense to her and all we ever seem to get our of her is, "eh, whatever." she doesn't seems to care over much. that doesn't mean she doesn't think about these strange new things. that's one of the great things about the character.

**Traffic Law**

As the Feral's entourage left the smelly white building, Akemi admitted, if only to herself, that although she had accepted the non-feral preferred mode of transportation, she would never be fully comfortable with it. It was too noisy, a great growling, purring beast menacing the strange ground material that made up this 'road' on which they traveled. She couldn't understand the appeal of traveling this way.

The metal beast could not travel as fast as most youkai under their own power and seemingly, it could only travel on this special ground. If it were more capable of all the demands made upon it, perhaps non-ferals wouldn't cut down so much of the wild to prepare ground for their travel. Though why non-feral youkai didn't just run as nature intended confused her a bit.

The humans, for which these 'cars' were originally designed, were the only ones she could perceive _might_ desire its speed as they were incapable of attaining such without mechanical aid. But she kind of frowned on their achieving it in a manner that left them without the real understanding of what such speeds required to first attain and then maintain. Without this understanding, how could they be trusted to know how to properly sustain control?

Perhaps this overabundance of trust in the understanding held by the masses was a symptom of what drove youkai Feral. In the wild things were simpler. If she wanted to hide what she was, where she was, she stayed hidden. There was none of this parading around where she could be seen using little annoying devices that distorted her vision to hide her red eyes. If she wished to go somewhere or do something, she ran to get there.

Akemi withheld a weary sigh, non-ferals complicated things with strange rules and invisible power struggles. She didn't understand this strange world and its strictures. How could anyone keep apart those who wish to be together with no one to object? That poor human child had much desired to leave with them and there was no one else to claim her.

"Can we do something to take those two out of the hospital custody?" Sesshoumaru asked the miko phantom quietly.

"Two?" Morenda asked in surprise. "I understand asking after Rin, but…"

"The kitsune needs to be removed from that environment and seen to before his fear is allowed to poison him," Akemi observed blandly. "The same for the little female as well. The broken slayer may be beyond help already. It is not likely he would accept the help anyway, but the other two need it, are desperate for it."

"If you say so," Morenda shrugged indecisively.

"I will see what can be done for the kit, but Rin may be more difficult to get out," Kikyou turned to look at Sesshoumaru in the back seat with his alpha. "It will not be easy having a human child released into the care of a youkai, regardless of the child's wishes on the matter. Kagome may have to take nominal custody to achieve her release from government care and Rin will have to demonstrate that it would be for her emotional and mental benefit to be placed with us. It would help if the girl was likely to develop miko tendencies, but she is old to not have shown them yet."

"Do not take Shippou out until Rin is cleared to come too," Sesshoumaru suggested. "The kit would be more comfortable with another child around and he already seems partial to her."

"I agree," Kikyou nodded. "We do not want to back him into an emotional corner."

"Heh," Morenda chuckled warmly. "Her first day back and already she's adopting more pack." The kuroneko smirked into the rearview mirror. "You'd think her pack was huge enough."

"I do not think she quite remembers how large her pack is," Sesshoumaru pointed out. "And even if she did she would still help those who have need. That was always a part of who she is. Surely you don't think Akemi's being Feral would change that."

"She might after they all start showing up at her door," Morenda laughed. "And they certainly will once word gets around."

Akemi actually did let out a sigh, "Your den is too exposed, we will be overrun."

"Nobody can come in without our invite," Sesshoumaru reminded her. "Kagome's barrier makes it so."

She snorted at him, but didn't comment further. Their conversation moved on without her as her attention was drawn violently elsewhere.

Although she had only ever experienced it once, you only had to be dragged from sleep a single time by a Youkai phone to be able to recognize its tugging for the whole of time that followed afterwards. And it wasn't any more pleasant during repeat performances. She could only be thankful that the device in this instant wasn't as close as the last one had been.

Still it was enough to be really annoying and sent her eyes out searching beyond the side of the convertible for the source. She didn't consider it strange that she was the only youkai in the car to take note of the tugging as non-ferals had so far proven to be far less sensitive to detecting such things than she. In fact, Akemi disregarded her companions entirely upon finally perceiving the youkai for whom the Phone tolled.

Akemi didn't know that the fact the youkai she observed had a youkai phone proved him to be powerfully important in youkai politics. She did not know that he _had_ to answer regardless of want or the device's demands. What she did know was that the youkai she spied stood along the street over which she was being driven and that he was not paying close enough attention to his young, a small male playing with a medium-sized, multi-colored, round object.

As a Feral, she could not imagine anything in the wide world that was more important than protecting a pup. It seemed strange to her that the apparent father could take his eyes off his progeny for anything as seemingly unimportant as a conversation with someone who wasn't even there.

But that is exactly what happened. The youkai answered his Phone resulting in a failure to observe when the ball bounced off his son's foot and out into traffic. He failed to notice his boy chase after said toy.

Akemi noticed. And if she hadn't, that child would've been flattened into pancakes and a number of motorists would have landed in the hospital. Instead, the feral female demonstrated just what her companions didn't know about Ferals.

Akemi leapt from the moving vehicle as it was passing over the bridge the other street was going under and landed about two feet away from the pup just as he realized what sort of danger he had put himself in. The Feral gathered the terrified pup close to her and held him tight as all the cars on the road that threatened them jumped off the pavement and into the air where their wheels spun ineffectively. Nothing moved for a second or two as the various drivers and passengers and pedestrian witnesses came to realize just what was going on.

As the wheels stopped turning on a car, each was then gently placed back on the ground. There were a handful still in the air by the time Sesshoumaru and the rest of Akemi's present pack caught up with her at the same time the boy's father did.

"Unhand my son, you-you," the irresponsible father started to bellow at the female carefully cradling her recently rescued treasure. Ignoring him she gently the pup back on his feet cradling his ball to his chest and staring up at her in detached awe.

"Hey kid," Morenda cut into the father's false accusations and ill-placed anger. He was the one who failed to keep an eye on his own progeny. "Next time stay out of the street okay. If Akemi hadn't been here you could have been flattened."

The boy nodded silently, still a little shaken by his near-death and sudden rescue. "Don't be absurd," the father sputtered. "Yoshiki knows better than to play in the street! This bitch obviously swiped him with the intent of kidnapping my boy."

"I assure you," Kikyou interrupted his continued foolishness, "Akemi has no desire to steal your son. She is, in fact, expecting four pups of her own in the very near future. She has no desire to ransom him either, as those pups will be heirs to the Taishou legacy and already well provided for. So again she has no reason to want your son, other than to protect him from the failings of your efforts to protect him when you answer your phone."

It was just then that the traffic cop decided to show up in the still motionless street. No cars were moving yet because of the large crowd developing around the altercation being held in the street.

"What's going on here? You're holding up traffic," the officer demanded sternly.

"I assure you officer, it was absolutely necessary," Sesshoumaru politely informed the cop. "The life of this boy was threatened and my companion sought to save him in a way that would least offer injury to others."

"Officer, this woman swiped my son off the sidewalk and dragged him into traffic," Yoshiki's father cut in angrily. "She did this while I was answering an urgent Phone call from the hospital where, I suspect, this woman raised quite a ruckus in the children's ward"

"She did not," Morenda snorted indignantly. "That was all Kohaku's doing, jumping to conclusions."

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and almost winced. By admitting they were in the Children's ward at all, she strengthened the fool's accusation that Akemi had been attempting to steal Yoshiki.

"He only did that because the female involved was Feral," the inattentive father announced in triumph. "In which case officer, this youkai needs to be exterminated."

"Actually," Kikyou interjected evenly, "Akemi has been pardon by Sango of the western exterminators and Kagome, shikon miko of the west. There are none willing to exterminate her now."

"Impossible," the officer blinked in surprise. Those two females were renowned for their dedication to protecting their people and fairness in dealing with others beyond their official care. They would never allow a dangerous Feral loose in society.

"It is very true," Sesshoumaru nodded. "Kagome's miko phantom should know."

"Then it's obvious their decision needs to be reviewed by the counsel as they both must be crazy," Yoshiki's sire declared. "At the very least, she is disrupting the flow of traffic."

"Argh!" Morenda growled. "She only did it to save your son's life. Show a little gratitude. She didn't have to bother you know."

"and I say again, Yoshiki would never run into traffic, he knows better."

"'you're a fool," Kikyou declared with a shake of her head.

"Fool or not, I'm afraid you are disrupting traffic," the officer decided firmly. "I'm going to have to take her in." The cop pulled out his specially designed cuffs and snapped them on the Feral female who almost went ballistic the moment it was done.

"You idiot," Morenda yelled as Akemi thrashed in the officer's car where he had quickly deposited her. "Don't you remember what drove her feral in the first place!" she demanded as she placed a concerned hand against the glass of the window.

"You will release her at once," Kikyou ordered.

"Sorry lady, but she'll stay in custody until the council has a chance to review the case, and that won't be for a few days," the cop shrugged before turning to leave.

"The council will be reviewing the case today," Sesshoumaru declared darkly. He knew they were in session, his father, Kagome, and even Sango were already there, thus the reason for their absence one this visit. For once, he was going to pull on the privileges due the heir of a cardinal seat. His alpha did not need this kind of stress during her pregnancy and he was going to see to it she did not suffer it long.


	21. Ch 20 Pandora's Box

You missed me last weekend. You know you did. Too bad I didn't miss you...*snicker* okay maybe I did. A little. When I wasn't all excited about my **new car**!

I did it! I bought My very first car. Brand new. It's so new it's a 2010. silver, and oh so beautiful. I jokingly told my second family that my dog and my car now match! And they do!

Anyways, this is not much of an action chapter. We're getting back to the simple Feral point of view as she's sort of locked in a cage right now. there is no one else to observe her. Well not accurately anyway. Superstitious, fear driven fools! but I made them that way, huh.

Rumiko Takahashi did that too though, so it's fairly similar to the original show.

Enjoy it, because i've hit another story-telling snag. I'll work it out eventually. I hope...

**Pandora's Box**

There is a lot a person can learn about themselves when trapped in a cage without aid. Once the panic and anger subside, the true character of the individual emerges as resignation sets in.

Akemi had long since stopped thrashing uselessly around her new cage. The sharp pain from when her hand crashed a little too forcefully into the bars had awakened her to the fact that mindless movement was not going to win her freedom. She would have to be smart if she wanted to break out.

Her immediate stillness made her guards nervous, but she didn't care. As much as their nervousness irritated her nose and set her nerves more on edge, she wasn't going to start thrashing about again to make them feel better. They deserved their anxiety for locking her up for reasons she couldn't fathom, more so because her beta and pack hadn't understood the reasons either, and they were non-feral enough to comprehend the non-feral society.

All she had done was save a pup that wasn't her own. Apparently in the non-feral world this was a crime. She supposed the correct procedure would have been to alert the boy's parent and let him save his offspring… or watch the pup be flattened.

She growled to herself as she pressed her shackled claws over her own soon-to-be pups. She certainly would prefer somebody save her pups than let them die. They were innocents and deserved to experience life before death came to claim them. The last thing she'd want is for someone to stand by and let her pups die.

Her claws tugged idly at the metal clapped around her limbs. She'd tried to remove them so many times already. Her wrists were raw and bloodied from the effort. She didn't like the feel of them, the smell of them, or the memories they tugged to the surface simply by being there. If she could recollect the story of Pandora, she'd realize this situation was tugging on the lock of her very own box.

Her vision flashed and her mind filled with blood soaked feelings of pain. Pain in her raw and bleeding back as she rubbed against something rough and unforgiving. Pain in her wrists where the manacles bit into her hands and her weight pulled on the chains. Pain that lanced through her body where her pups were and the remembered smell of death.

Akemi knew these were all bits of memory from her time before the wilds. She didn't want to remember. Memories like that could bring her nothing but pain themselves and the overall feeling of claustrophobia, of being trapped in that time of pain was only compounded by the cage she found herself actually in.

Since coming out of the wilds, Akemi had spent time invariably closed in by people. Their closeness making her nervous and their strangeness inevitably confusing her, but there had always been the possibility of escape. In the car they insisted she be whisked around in, she could always leap up and out. In the hospital ward where the broken slayer had stood against her, she could always have made a new door, the walls were not reinforced everywhere. It was the same in that little room she'd found herself so crowded in for her "prenatal exam". All had their routes of escape should she feel the need, and the mere knowledge of that possibility had kept her calm and, if not completely easy, tolerably so.

It was not so in this cage they threw her in. And the space was rank with the smells of others who had been held here.

The upholstery was marred by the claws that had come before hers. The cushion underneath was stained with the scents of old, dried, spilled blood, setting one more trigger to her flight mechanism. The floor smelled and showed stains of other bodily fluids that made her refuse to touch it. Over all it smelled of male beyond the smell of her warden shifting nervously in the front seat.

It smelled of spent male, bowel, urine, and fear.

Even the air she breathed hung heavy with the remembered taint of power that was not her own. And that tugged on more memories of pain, ones that stabbed pain through an area that had only known pleasure since her Beta had come into her care.

She didn't want to remember. She didn't care to remember and this tiny place that held her against her will oppressed her with fragments of memory better left to the time before.

Akemi swallowed convulsively, what fools these non-ferals were turning out to be. If this is how they treat the Ferals that came into society from the wilds, it wasn't any wonder they believed her fellows were mindless, violent creatures.

They had refused to allow anyone she was familiar with to ride with her, to distract her and keep her calm. For the first time in seasons, she was without the ready company of her beta and she felt his absence. Before taking him in, she had been alone, but she had not suffered loneliness for it. Now she felt it keenly.

Akemi well knew that inu were normally pack animals. Youkai and lesser species, all canines were social creatures. She had thought about pack when watching the wild youkai in theirs, but dismissed the possibility for herself. Now she had one and was cut off from them. She did not like it.

She did not like that they would be worried about her, fretting on their own from somewhere they could not see for themselves she was fine. She did not like that her beta had to be in pain.

Her beta still wasn't perfectly healthy yet, he could ill-afford the kind of pain she knew he would feel at their enforced separation. And from what she'd gleaned from the members of her rediscovered pack, he'd suffered far too much of that kind of pain. Being Feral didn't mean she lost the instinct that told her what a beta needed, and what he needed was merely her presence right now.

She turned her head to try and catch sight of him as she knew he had ordered all of the principle parties involved in the street incident to the same place. He had to be near enough for her to see, to check on him.

But her gaze was arrested by the bars that held her close. These non-Feral fools kept her from doing what she needed to do as an alpha with a beta. They held her in a cage like a wild animal, like a rabid thing to be stared at in terrified curiosity and never touched.

It had not been missed by her that her prison keeper had made darn sure to touch her as little as possible.

And that youkai on the street whose son she had saved from imminent flatness hadn't been truly wary of her, he was terrified and anxious, perhaps a bit shocked. Instead of dealing with his feelings or even just being glad that the boy was alive and well, he had shoved those feelings off onto her.

The officer hadn't cared about being fair or following rules, he hadn't even cared that everyone involved and not involved had suffered no injury because of her. The minute he'd been told she was Feral; he'd had no intention of letting her go anywhere unless it involved her death.

Akemi was coming to understand there was more wrong with the non-feral view of Ferals than just a lack of understanding. They feared her, not because she was more formidable in power for they couldn't sense her strength. It wasn't because she would kill without provocation because she had yet to harm anyone. Someone had declared Ferals as the root of all evil.

She was the boogie man.

Worse, they thought she was contagious. In another situation, she might have felt amusement at that.

Ferals were the end result of a problem in non-feral society and instead of viewing the perpetrators as monsters they preferred to fear the abused survivor. Instead of sympathizing with the fearful, hiding youkai driven to the wilds by the anxiety and trauma forced upon them; they send the exterminators. Non-ferals apparently believed the only cure and healing available to such injured parties was to put them out of their misery.

The only thing Ferals wanted was to live.

All she wanted was to live, for her pups to live.

It was no wonder youkai fled to the wild when they were in so much emotional and physical pain. It was the only place they could go where people would let them be. Being alone was the most they could hope for since they could not expect sympathy or compassion. Solitude was the only comfort allowed to them.

The more she learned of non-feral society the more she found it hard to believe that theirs was less primitive than their wild cousins. Living in the wild she had witnessed her local packs of wild youkai in most every type of situation, and in the event that a member of their pack got caught alone and attacked, young or old, if they survived and remained traumatized by the experience they were taken into the pack fold and comforted and nursed back to health, mental and physical. And they did this in the _wild_ where nursing and caring was all but impossible to do.

Contrasted with non-ferals, in their tall havens and mechanically controlled environment, with food produced and provided for them without the necessity of hunting for it, who didn't bother to offer comfort or aid to the severely abused and traumatized, where they had the aid of healing houses and easy access to the learning of others. It was a wonder more of their numbers didn't go Feral in reality.

The uniformed youkai in the front seat glanced back at her nervously in the review mirror and she glowered at him through the bars. The stench of his fear filled the confined space of the car and filtered into her cage. She hated the smell. Not for the first time her thoughts drifted wistfully to her den. At least there, creatures were wise enough to hide the smell of their fear from clogging up the air. And there was no youki screaming against her nerves there either.

She did not rightly understand the non-feral youkai. The humans she got though. Their foibles and fears made sense to her. They were like the wild youkai, trying to make sure all their numbers were cared for but unable to do so by the sheer size of their numbers. They did not shun those who suffered; rather they did all they could to help the sufferer, sometimes doing too much in the effort.

Once again she tried to look out to find her beta and was unsuccessful.

Akemi would give Sesshoumaru today to get her out of here his way. Then she would take matters into her own hands. She would get out of here or die trying. There was no way she could stand to stay here longer than that. He needed her and she wanted him.


	22. Ch 21 Animal Control

You know, with how long I've managed to keep up with regular posts lately, it must seem that all my worries and threats of running out of chapters was a little empty and that my complaints about how difficult this story is to write was just a bunch of hot air. That's not true.

See normally, I would have a few chapters set up as buffer in case writer's block strikes and to give me time to go back and edit everything so that the flow is right _before_ it ever reaches the posting stage. right now, I don't have the ability to do this so you're unfortunately getting pretty close to the raw state of these chapters, as I only have time to go over them once _maybe_ twice before they go live. And I do apologize if the end result is not as polished as I am normally capable of.

Rumiko Takahashi is of course never caught in this predicament. She always as an over abundance of ideas and materials ready for use. And while I flatter myself as never being completely out of ideas, they are not always so well organized as to be ready for writing and public consumption.

anyways, all this is unimportant so long as it doesn't affect your enjoyment of this story.

We are now going to see just how ridiculous some people can be when working under the misinformation of fear induced superstition.

A brief reminder, the "Broken Pack" is made up of all the female youkai Kagome found at Akemi's school after Akemi bolted in **_Feral_**. The "Lost One" is Akemi so named for being the only one to go Feral from their treatment there.

**Animal Control**

By the time the motorcade arrived at the official Council Hall, the number of vehicles accompanying Akemi had swelled to include six more black and whites called in by the slightly terrified officer driving the car in which she was hand-cuffed and imprisoned. Sesshoumaru had no doubt that was where they had come from anyway. The fool had probably called in back up in order to better contain the threat of a Feral monster. The fact that Akemi had quickly settled down and offered no real resistance to her imprisonment shortly after the drive had started could hold no real sway when held up against popular superstition. After all, no one in current society had much experience with Ferals beyond the exterminators and their common practice was to kill on sight.

The police were quite out of their depth, he was sure. Or at least, they felt they were.

Sesshoumaru growled angrily to himself as he watched the crowd of armed youkai and humans in uniform surround the closed door to Akemi's cage before the driver slowly swung it open to allow the two elected handlers to slip the Ketch-all poles probably borrowed from Animal Control into the cage to loop around her already restrained claws.

They were treating her like an animal; an untouchable animal, or worse, something contagious. It angered him for more than one reason.

Her bloodied and raw wrists were dragged out ahead of her darkened red eyes, the only real indication of just how badly she was holding up. Sesshoumaru could not sense whether she was afraid or angry as he was too far away to pick up on the miniscule hints that would tell him; her emotions were either greatly subdued or very well hidden most of the time. Something about the situation was getting to her. Being kept this far away from her, he had no way of knowing what. And that was something that picked at his instincts as a beta.

It was strange to think that Akemi had been lost in his world less than twenty-four hours and already she had been unjustly attacked, verbally insulted and the lives of her young threatened, and now she was being treated like some unreasoning, rabid animal. Perhaps he should have simply taken her back to her den this morning instead of out for a pre-natal exam.

Sesshoumaru mentally shook himself before stepping forward to prod the overly equipped officials towards the entrance of the building with the mere pressure of his presence. He was tempted to have them all reprimanded down to the last man after this was over. Such unnecessary use of manpower had to be having detrimental effect somewhere else, not to mention such ridiculous proof of fire power would more likely kill friendlies than the one Feral in their midst should Akemi suddenly decide to become violent. She could outrun them all before they could fire the first rounds, even dragging the fools at the end of the animal handlers' tools looped around her limbs. She was that strong, that swift, and that determined to survive. It was what enabled her to become Feral after all.

They were fools, all of them, and he had never really suffered fools well.

"What are you doing lingering back there, now? Finally realized the council will never be fooled into allowing the Feral to live?" The fool youkai responsible for this farce cackled foolishly, attempting to goad the inu and his companions into doing something that would weaken their case against him. He was convinced he was right and the council would see his side, but it didn't hurt to aid his cause even a little bit more. Some youkai were strange creatures.

Sesshoumaru snarled at him threateningly, but did not move to rush forward. Neither did Kikyou or Morenda, both likewise aware that interrupting a council session would look badly on the one who did it. And while they were the ones to insist upon bringing it before the council immediately, it was better to appear as though they weren't impatient for it to happen. Better to let the throng of uniformed public servants and the youkai who'd insisted upon Akemi's being locked up for saving his son enter first. They would certainly interrupt the meeting rather noisily on their own, and so long as the Feral in the middle of it all remained apparently calm, things should go their way from there. They hoped she remained calm.

Morenda watched the whole procession tensely. "Have we figured out how we're going to get Akemi out of this with the council?"

"We'll do whatever it takes," Kikyou answered firmly. "Black mail, bullying, and occasionally appealing to their better nature."

"Drawing blood if the need arises," Sesshoumaru smirked darkly. He was more than willing to draw blood if the situation called for it. It was to combat a threat to his alpha after all. He was even willing to transform and demolish the place to get her out if need be.

"Actually," Kikyou murmured thoughtfully as they followed behind the crowd leading Akemi to her judgment. "I don't think it will come to that. The broken pack has many strong supporters and a large amount of influence in the council."

"Were they given a voice in the council?" Sesshoumaru was surprised. No new voices had been given out in centuries.

"Kagome insisted on it," Morenda nodded. "She said we were a large enough, different enough group to deserve it."

"United in pain shared by no others," Kikyou nodded. "Kagome believed they needed some power over their own lives and the only way to do that was to go all the way to the top. Once Kagome suggested it, the other mikos followed suit. Where the mikos go, the tajiya tend to follow, as did the Northern lord at the prodding of his mate. Many of the other voices found themselves pressured into agreeing in the same way. Males may dominate much of the world, but their females united against them were far too much to be stood against."

"Especially when many of them already agreed with idea," Morenda added just before the doors were thrown open by the pompous excuse for neglectful father. Whoever currently had the floor to speak halted their speech in surprise at the sudden disturbance. The chaos that followed as the crowd of policeman tried to settle into a formation that offered the most security in keeping the Feral threat under control.

"What is the meaning of this!" A stuffy kuma growled grumpily. Disorder was not supposed to be a part of council meetings. The young were always fouling things up and making them more complicated than they had to be. "I demand an adequate answer this minute."

The single youkai not wearing a uniform who had lead the entire mess into the convened council paused to momentarily register the possibility of his having made a mistake. But it was too late to take it back now. And he was definitely in the right anyway. "This bitch tried to kidnap my son on a public street and caused ruckus at a local hospital."

Morenda scoffed and crossed her arms but she did not say anything. Her voice was carried by another in this room until she was specifically called upon. She knew this and would not hurt Akemi by acting out of turn until it no longer mattered.

Kikyou, on the other hand was dead, and spoke for herself. "That is a gross falsehood derived from willful denial of your own neglect and incomplete understanding of circumstances."

The kuma blinked at the miko phantom. Kikyou, in her original life, had never defended a youkai. It was odd that she would do so now.

"Excuse us for interrupting," a curly golden-haired female youkai spoke up carefully. "But could we be fully informed as to what lead to this situation."

"Which situation would that be?" Sesshoumaru sneered at the youkai responsible for all this. "The one where my alpha was unjustly imprisoned for saving the life of a child, or the one where she was attacked without provocation in the children's ward at the hospital?"

"Or the situation where the lives of her unborn pups were threatened, quite rudely this morning?" Kikyou added evenly.

"Or the circumstances that lead to her unconscious, unwilling arrival in a world where she suffered all these things in one day?" Morenda snorted quietly.

"What lead to this gross display of bad manners and lack of manners?" the annoyed kuma demanded rather sharply.

"Well that would be the unjust imprisonment following the female's successful effort to save the life a child, the accuser's son, when he ran into traffic in pursuit of a toy while his sire answered his Phone," Sesshoumaru answered blandly.

"She kidnapped him!" The pompous youkai snapped.

"Right," Kikyou nodded mildly. "That's why she stopped all of traffic and stood in the middle of the road to set him down instead of running off with her prize and letting you be waylaid by traffic."

"She's a Feral, who knows how their instinct saturated mind works," the father blustered on. The gasp that moved through the hall upon his words made him smirk. "That's right," he declared triumphantly as another thought occurred to him. "She's a Feral. There's no way one of the weak creatures would have the strength to stop traffic like that. It was probably one of you who did it to confuse the issue."

Akemi snorted in annoyance and glared about at her captors. She did not care that they thought her weak, though why they assumed so was beyond her ken. She did not concern herself over this foolish need to argue what was. Reality could not be changed by misbelieve and she could not be fooled by lies. She was Feral, and increasingly glad of it the more she came to learn of these non-ferals.

"Oh indeed," Kikyou agreed condescendingly. "She is a Feral. A feral that did not harm the child, did not fight the fools that strung her out like a stray dog menacing the public, and has very quietly allowed everyone present to insult her intelligence by talking about her as if she isn't here and can't defend herself. And I assure you none of us had the capability to lift twenty cars in motion directly off the pavement without laying a hand on them."

"Don't be even more of a fool than you already are," the neglectful father scoffed. "Everyone knows Ferals do not talk. And you cannot convince me this creature," he sneered, "Was responsible for it. Hmmph! She stands before the whole council and not a one of them could possibly sense the sort of power from her that would be required for such a feat."

"They may not be able to sense it," a new cracked and aged voice chortled from a slightly darker spot of the massively large chamber. "But her strength remains there. One does not simply lose it though they run mad." The wizened old crone who spoke smirked a gap-toothed smile at the room, her one-eye daring them to imagine her incorrect. "That child was placed by us and we knew well her potential for power when we engaged her to the only possible Beta strong enough to almost match her. Akemi always held the seed of a Shikon level youkai, and you fools who attempt to leash her may find it a painful failure when she chooses to break free."

And the name of the "Lost One" echoed through the council mouths more prolifically than the word Feral had. For if this Feral were the lost Akemi, this situation became a whole new problem all-together.


	23. Ch 22 Lessons in Strength

I'm sorry, dear readers, for my absence last week. I died.

*snerk* nah, I'm kidding! I just felt like crap is all. My sinuses started draining last Friday and I'm still trying to get through it now. My ears ache, my throat is sore, my nose runs, and my face feels like it's got heavy weights set on it, just under the eyes. It's rather uncomfortable. And makes it hard to sleep as the irritation to my throat makes me cough a bit to no apparent purpose. I was just miserable and tired. In fact, I didn't even make it the whole week at work. I called off on Wednesday, though it was more of a mental health day than a sick day. First time I've done that all year.

And I'm not sick, per se. My glands aren't swollen, it's just my sinuses. So I can't take something to make it go away any quicker. Oh well.

So I didn't post last week, because I didn't feel well. this chapter was about ready, but I wasn't.

A note on the chapter before you head onward. Sango and Kagome may seem a bit out of character, but Rumiko Takahashi never put either character into quite the same position in the anime. They are powerful figures in a formal situation. Of course they behave differently. Their speech is a little modified from the casual version, and though you can't see it, they hold themselves differently in council. Kind of like politicians, but a lot more honest.

**Lessons in Strength**

In every society, there are those who live outside the rules. Whether this is honestly done or sneakily done, it is so. There are always those who for whom the rules are relaxed, nonexistent, or simply ignored. Sometimes this is by a societal agreement that the position they fill in the communal hierarchy requires this privilege.

Such is the case for the sisterhood of Youkai mate-matchers. The secrets and higher knowledge of the minority group hold them apart from their fellows in the same way that experience separates the young from the old. Most of the powerful youkai in the non-feral world held that it was difficult to come by the knowledge the sisterhood retained because not a one of the ancient females remained without serious scars and no new members had been successfully promoted to full membership in over six hundred years.

As such they were not kept from individually speaking for themselves in council. Although they weren't supposed to speak out of turn as had just occurred.

"Syrian," the gruff old kuma growled in irritation. "You were not part of this current incident. Do not make it more complicated than it is."

Syrian cackled wildly, "The sisterhood has had a place in these events since long before it came to pass. We are responsible for allowing her care to fall to the hands of the Taishou, despite the portents that supported the match. The western heir was the only Beta currently alive that could come close to matching her in strength."

"My son is not a beta," insisted an irritated Taishou.

"Stay out of this Taishou," growled the kuma.

"Why will you not accept him for what he is," another voice called from the other side of the room. "We have not your sight or scent capabilities, but we can see him for what he is and always was. And we see her strength in this room as well."

"Shut up, insect," the Taishou snarled across the space of the open floor between them.

"You would do well to respect our queen, impertinent dog," the queen's left hand companion sneered back. "Or shall we see just how similar in looks you are to a poodle." The youkai snapped his suddenly formed pinchers.

"Knock it off," Kagome yelled at the room, flaring her power to gain both attention and silence. "Akemi has no need to be subjected to this childish squabbling." The miko huffed in annoyance. "Her case was on the agenda for today anyway, if Narumi-sama wouldn't mind moving it up in the schedule a small amount we could address the entire issue right now regardless of whether Ferals can lift cars with their youki or Sesshoumaru is her beta or not." When the kuma nodded at her huffily Kagome went on. "Now, why is Akemi standing before us in chains? I want the officer first on the scene to explain this to me."

The specified officer stepped up to answer the miko. "I was first brought on to the scene by the sudden obstruction of a public road."

"Sudden?" Kagome asked in concern. "Was anyone hurt?"

"No ma'am," the officer replied confidently. "They didn't exactly stop moving per se. They just weren't moving forward."

"Really," the miko lifted an eyebrow. "Then which way were they moving?"

"Up, miko-sama," he declared earnestly.

"Up?"

"Yes, up." The officer continued without noting the change in her tone. "So I approached the scene as it was very unusual and this" he gestured to the youkai in question, "Person accused the female there of attempted kidnapping."

"Indeed," Kagome was clearly losing patience with this nonsense. "Did it look like attempted kidnapping to you?"

"Not so much ma'am. The female had clearly not intended to run off with the boy and her companions declared her to already be expecting young of her own."

"So then why all of this," Kagome gestured to the slew of officers still standing around Akemi with guns trained and ready to fire. "Was there a law actually broken?"  
"Er, she was holding up traffic?" The officer replied sheepishly. Akemi snorted at him. "It also came to my attention that the female was Feral."

"Did her escort not also tell you that I and Sango had already given her pardon and that I personally arranged for her to be taken to the hospital this morning for a professional check-up?" Kagome demanded in irritation.

"That did come up, but I figured it couldn't possibly be true of the greatest defenders of human and youkai public safety in the Western Lands and out."

Kagome glared at him in annoyance. "Akemi what do you have to say about all this?"

Akemi blinked up at the Kagome's question. "I am not certain I understood the whole of it." Her voice was low and gravelly with the effort of fighting off experience honed instinct and the pressing of memories she was certain she cared not to remember. "That one," she gestured to the uniformed male that had addressed Kagome, "Was only true in his speech when he added that the chains and the caging was for my being Feral. That one," she gestured to the male that had accused her of attempting to steal his off spring, "Has yet to speak true of the situation. He reeks of delayed fear and panic that exists beyond my ken. He is a fool, not unlike the Taishou." Akemi answered, ignoring the gasps and rampant disbelief flowing through the youkai and humans present to hear her speak.

"This is absurd," the declared fool screeched insulted. "I refuse to believe that this Feral female lifted twenty cars at all, let alone for no reason."

Akemi stared at him from the crouch she'd assumed near the start of this strange interlude. She glanced at the uniform holding the pole restraining her on her right. "Explain," she demanded and the female jumped and took a trembling step back dropping the metal handle to the hard floor. Akemi flinched at the abrasive sound before demanding the same of her other handler.

This uniform managed to keep a grasp on the restraining device despite being terrified into a step backwards pulling Akemi a little off balance by dragging her hands with. When the Feral growled in annoyance and tugged back was when the second pole was dropped the same effect. Akemi growled in annoyance.

Sango shook her head at the cowards before stepping through them to address the Ferals demand for information. "He does not believe you powerful enough to have lifted the cars because he cannot feel your power."

"Is this important?" Akemi demanded.

Sango leaned down to speak closer to the level the Feral currently hovered at. "It might be as there is very little actually known of Ferals here."

Akemi glanced about her and nodded. "You destroy us on sight, how do you expect to learn of us. How could you possibly know the strength of a creature if you do not allow it to show you, if you do not understand how its strength is best displayed? I understand your displays of power I suppose." She glanced back to the exterminator in front of her. "You only know how to hunt us when we are weak, when we are starving and become a problem for you. You know nothing of us. There are no weak Ferals," she declared firmly. "They die in their first seasons, of hunger, of exposure, of other predators. They either learn to hide the power that you shout in my direction or they starve when their prey disappears long before they know it is there. Or the other predators hunt them down for foolishly publishing their every move so that the hunters of youkai flesh know when they are at their weakest. But most of all they die because they are unable to hide from death when it comes through of a frozen winter, its breath biting at their deadening limbs and benumbed minds until they finally give in to its seductively soft embrace. There are no weak Ferals. For in order to become Feral you have to _want_ to live so badly that when you are broken and fractured you still continue to live on a slivered, cracked portion of yourself." Akemi growled to herself. "What do you know of Ferals, the wilds, or me?"

"You are right," Sango agreed "But many will not believe it until it is declared in a way they cannot fail to understand."

"You want me to shout it," Akemi huffed before pushing herself a bit higher off the floor in her ready crouch. "So be it, but when the hunters come you had best be ready to fight it."

"What hunter would track you all the way here?" Sango wondered.

"You will see," Akemi answered vaguely and then allowed her tightly controlled youki to spiral out from her and completely fill the room near to suffocating all of its occupants with the oppressiveness of it before she quickly hid it once again.

The only occupants seemingly undisturbed by her display were the insectoid youkai that had spoken before. "It truly must be a shout to all of you to affect you so," the queen smirkingly observed.

"Oh shut up," Grumbled the Eastern heir grumpily. "We don't need another dissertation on how your senses picked up on it before we did."

"Well, now that we've proven that Akemi did not attempt to kidnap a small child and in fact broke no law without good Samaritan reasons could we move on to make her pardon official and public so that this does not happen again," Kagome asked. "And please remove those silly restraints; they obviously serve no purpose other than to irritate her."

The previously obliging officer started and stared at her in horror. She couldn't be serious. "Eh, you can't be seri-"

"The keys, if you please," Sango cut him off. If she wasn't so aware that every ear in the room would hear her, she'd let him know just what she thought of him at this moment. Stupid, bone-headed, moron. He had heard Akemi speak for herself. He had felt in her display of youki that she could easily suffocate them all without lifting a hand to do it and yet he still balked at removing a paltry set of cuffs and the dog catcher equipment that nobody was currently master of any longer.

Fool.


	24. Ch 23 Freedom's Prisoner

I offer as proof of how difficult it is to write this story this single fact: I finished the chapter Last night and I still don't like it. so I apologize if it's crap. I like a bit more time to go back and reread things after I've written them before making them public. the reason this chapter took so long is because I couldn't get the tone right for what I needed to convey. The environment Akemi is in has incurable hostile overtones for even if people around her are not ready to condemn her for being what she is they still tend to fear her. The only real exceptions at this time are the Rin - who seemingly refuses to learn any better, Kikyou - who's already dead, Morenda - who's half Feral herself, and Sesshoumaru. There are some members of the Broken Pack that might seem to fit this catagory, but they don't. They fear Akemi for many of the same reasons normal youkai do.

You may ask why Kagome is not in this catagory. the thing is, while she will do all she can to save Akemi and keep herself, she wouldn't be so crazy as to walk up and tug on her hand or hug her. Same with SAngo. They aren't crazy. Nor are they prone to death willing themselves for lack of Akemi's company. And Rin fits in a class all by herself. Then again, the traumatized suffer a type of insanity. Her values and perceptions are all skewed.

Akemi is aware of all this, though not in so many pointed words. Her survival honed senses detect every little hint the others give out and it puts _her_ on edge as well. As they say with wild animals, they can sense your fear. And it makes them wary of you. Alien creatures that you are.

Rumiko Takahashi only just touched on this whenever Inuyasha went crazy. But it was there all the same.

**Freedom's Prisoner**

Despite having been freed from her shackles and the uselessly cumbersome metal poles, Akemi remained as she was, crouched warily in the depressed center of the cavernous room.

The situation was not to her liking as could hardly be surprising if a thoughtful person took the time to actually consider where she usually lived.

In the wild, it was dangerous for any creature beyond herself to know her exact whereabouts at any given time. The den was part of this desperate need for secrecy, but it was only one small facet. The obvious dangers of a den that had lost its secrecy likewise applied to every step taken in the wild, though the risk of discovery was greater. If someone, or something even, knew where you were and what you were then that creature could decide to hunt _you_ for food, for sport, or even for other reasons.

Ferals were more than slightly aware of this. For where the Wild Youkai and animals were a tad more relaxed in their efforts to conceal themselves, Ferals knew the true horrors exposure could hold. They were a product of such dangers after all. Abuse could not be performed when you were hidden from the abuser. Wild creatures had no first hand knowledge of this.

So Akemi remained where she had been placed, in the center of far too much attention and ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of a threat directed towards her person. It was different when walking about with all the other youkai and humans of this non-feral world. No other seemed to single her out for attention and despite her not hiding behind what cover was available, she seemed hidden well enough in the anonymous throng. It was different here.

And it didn't help that every creature in the room would not stop moving in way unnatural to her understanding. Didn't they realize the wasted energy in what they did as they shifted about? And the strong overlapping scent of so many bodies in varying states of fear, concern, and nerves was overwhelming and nerve wracking. That is to say nothing of all the youki being shoved and shouted at her from every direction.

She felt as if she might suffocate under the weight of it, somewhat like they'd seemed to do under her own youki. She didn't twitch, or shift her weight or any of the other unconscious gestures so prevalent in those around her. A feral nervous was always still. In the wild, stillness was easier to conceal than movement, and the unmoving seldom drew increased attention. Instead it made these non-ferals shift more restlessly.

Such stillness only seemed to make the non-ferals more nervous and those against her pardon argued the more strenuously the longer she remained so.

Truly, Akemi was as impatient to get out of that place as she was certain many of them were to get her out of there and away from them. Whether she was given license to stay in this strange world or all but forced back into the wild where she belonged was beginning to look like a rather ridiculous argument. Akemi just wanted to go back where everything made sense again.

Doing so seemed a difficult business though.

The way before her was filled with curious, fearful eyes and the way back was blocked by the law officers that had been too afraid to free her and yet were determined to stay in the event she gave them reason to shoot.

But her self-proclaimed pack were determined to restore her to this society she had once been a part of. And she knew without argument that nothing she could say would stop their efforts to accomplish their goal. Even if she did suddenly return to the wild.

"the Feral Akemi has never once offered society violence, even in situations that threatened her well being and the health of those that are hers," Kagome declared in a clear, strong voice that carried throughout the room. "She has actually been in society twenty four hours now and has yet to cause an unsanctioned death or bodily harm that would seem justified for anyone else in this room caught in the same situation."

"So you say," growled the Eastern heir. Horace was afraid to let Akemi back into the Broken Pack. "But there have been several incidences since her return as a result of her presence."

"Other fools making a big deal out of her mere existence is not her fault," Sango growled in return. "Don't go blaming her for the foolishness of others."

"What you term foolishness, I call social responsibility," Horace retorted strongly. "She was found in a Youkai children's ward at the hospital."

"She was lead there by a human girl that took her by the hand and dragged her after," Sesshoumaru glared coldly at the neko. "She caused no harm and did no more than play with the child."

"So because nothing happened _this_ time we are supposed to believe that a Feral creature will never do anything in the future?" Horace scoffed. "I think there are enough youkai just in this room familiar with what the usual behavior of Ferals is. How many times have we suffered the loss of friends and even family to the Ferals that trespass into our lands?"

"So you would punish our alpha for the actions of others?" Aramanda, the speaker for the broken pack shouted at him angrily. "So then we should punish all men for the actions of those 'teachers' in the North, the ones who drove her Feral in the first place?" It was quite clear she was more than willing to do that if he pressed the issue.

"Why does everyone keep claiming her as an alpha?" Horace demanded. "The law clearly states that-"

"A youkai declared the friend of human kind, who presents no outrageous threat to society, and offers some form of benefit that is pardoned by both a miko and an exterminator is allowed to join society as a full fledged member," Kagome recited monotonously. "Such was the way the original youkai alliances were created. By okaying individual youkai." This was the history taught to every child in school.

Horace growled in frustration, "I am still not convinced she poses no significant threat to society. And what benefit does she offer? What friendship can you prove? I see just a Feral, like any other."

"Then you are as much a fool as the Taishou," the insect Queen declared from the side. "It is obvious this Feral offers no greater threat to our people than any other youkai in this room. We have the same strength as she, the same speed, and present the same danger. The fact that she has not used them while you stand there threatening her position or when the police had her uselessly restrained is proof of the friendship she offers." The large, antenaed female stared the neko down with her strange multi-faceted eyes, "Our kind hold no fear of the Ferals in the wild or out," she informed the pinkened inu. "We somehow do not register as those to attack or fear."

"I know those of your kind," Akemi answered. "It is unwise to trespass upon their territory, but they are not rivals for food. Nor are they prey. They are a danger," she conceded, "but only if you intrude on what has been staked out as theirs. Otherwise they are easily avoided until their territory moves again."

"The territories shift in the wild?" the Queen asked in obvious curiosity.

Akemi considered her, equally as mild and calm as the insect seemed to be. "The Saimyoushi move their territory when a significant threat moves close enough to the boundaries to set up a den. Then it shifts in consideration of the nearness of the threat to the hive. They tend to avoid places too near water and will move when the rivers and creaks shift also."

"You know of a Saimyoushi hive?" the Queen sounded somewhat amazed. "Such have been believed to be extinct since days long past. We wondered if there were still those in the wild, but have never been able to find them."

"What is extinct?" Akemi demanded.

"We believed them to have all died out," the Queen clarified her previous statement. "Our court used them as royal messengers, a place of honor and great care. They were revered for their dedication and loyalty."

"Then why would they have all died," Akemi demanded.

"We warred with the Gumo," she answered. "The spiders. Our messengers were hunted and in most cases eaten." She stepped back and nodded. "Just for the knowledge that the revered Saimyoushi live, all who honored them will support you and your pardon," the Queen finished majestically. "Though many of us would have supported it anyway. We can sense what you are though the others have not our memory to know what it is."

"And that is what benefit our society can receive from pardoning Akemi," Kagome declared.

"What?" Horace, the Eastern heir, blinked in surprise. "Knowledge of a race wrongly believed to be extinct?"

"No," Akemi surprised the room by answering. "Knowledge of what it is to be Feral. You do not know this, have no way of learning it but through a Feral. And not all Ferals speak the language you confine yourselves to. Only fools turn down the offer of knowledge, for even Ferals acknowledge that information can oft times save lives." She smirked at the neko. "In the wild, there is a great deal of information that is vital to survive. You are lucky, in your world you can learn all this from others. You know where to find food, water, and safety. Sometimes it is provided for you without effort. It is not the same with Ferals. Only the greatest luck will find you capable of learning such things from an older Feral. Most Ferals avoid each other."

"Then how will you be able to provide any information on Ferals beyond yourself, if you all avoid each other?" Horace demanded, moving forward to add force to his words.

"I said most, not all," Akemi answered flatly. "I would ask you to soften your tones and stay back. You make my pack nervous."

"You are Feral, damnit! You have no claim to pack!" Horace growled in frustration.

The old Kuma growled his own frustrated, displeasure. "She does, fool neko. She has been claimed as alpha by more than one creature in just his room. The miko's pardon, supported by the Tajiya, gives her the right of pack." Narumi felt like thumping the boy. He well understood Horace's reasoning and fears, but to allow this nonsense to go on much longer would be unconscionable. "Name one solid incidence where the Feral Akemi has caused any serious bodily harm to a member of this society or let the matter drop. This issue cannot be allowed to take up any unnecessary time. This council has a great deal more work due to be addressed before we can adjourn today. I for one would like to get home at a decent hour."

Horace blinked. He'd really expected to have more support in opposing this. Surely someone else had a reason not to allow this to fly.

"She killed the arms instructor in that school in the north," an unknown identified voice called to object.

Kagome's eyes flashed, "I might remind the council that the one death caused by the Feral Akemi was in response to being hunted down after her release from her torment by the very monster that abused her and every other female now united in the Broken Pack. And it was only done in defense of two of her pack sisters that had come to offer her aid in her efforts to escape him and society."

Kagome let out a sigh to relieve the instant anger even the suggestion of holding the Arctic Cobra's death against Akemi had crated. "The pardon is owed Akemi for more reason than her great restraint she has shown despite actions taken against her and what knowledge she offers society. Akemi would not have become Feral if we as a scoiety had not neglected to see the danger the schooling system presented. Society as a whole shares responsibility for the abuse she suffered. is responsible for saving others from becoming Feral as well," Kagome declared. "The freedom allowed to schools by the system then in place made possible the evils we discovered there. Had society chosen earlier to recognize the danger, we could have prevented the loss of even the one that was Akemi. But because we did not, it was left to Akemi to save what society would allow to fall through the cracks. And she did it though the effort was detrimental to herself."

"If you do not pardon her," Sango added sternly, "you leave the Borderlines stuck between continuing to suffer the pain of their past and what to them seems little more than death."

Kagome broke in on his thoughts. "The 'Lost One' is the named alpha of the Broken Pack for good reason. She alone stood between most of its members an worse treatment. She did this as had been proven her nature long before. Most of the Taishou clan would claim her as alpha for similar reasons. The size of her pack is greater than any other long established pack in society. Only the hives of the South can compete with her for sheer numbers. And for good reason." The Shikon miko tilted her head to the side before continuing. "She saved them all in one way or another, and continued to do so to the detriment of her own well-being. There is no one they trust more. No one I trust more with their care."

Syrian cackled in glee before breaking in on the conversation from the gleefully hovering group of mate-matchers. "The Shikon miko have all done what they could to heal and keep the Broken Pack from falling. Now, with the return of their alpha, a Shikon level youkai, true healing can begin."

"What are you implying?" Narumi growled in frustration. This simple issue was becoming more and more complicated with each new voice added to the discussion. And all without being called upon to comment too.

"There is only so much miko can do where only an alpha will suffice," Syrian snickered.

"Don't be absurd," Horace protested rashly. "A Feral Alpha in charge of the Broken Pack would probably lead them all to be Feral instead of going the other way."

"Ah, the superstition that Ferals are contagious," the Queen shook her head. "Perhaps a few of them will become Feral," she shrugged. "As Akemi has said, it is only through truly great luck that a Feral finds another Feral to learn necessary skill and knowledge from to aid in survival. If they do go Feral, they will have Akemi to teach them what they require to survive. And perhaps more of them will survive long enough to return to us peacefully as Akemi has. But this is hardly likely to happen with all of them." Her insectoid smirk was particularly derisive. "We already have proof that she isn't contagious."

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Horace demanded.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" the Queen's tone was patronizing. "The Feral Akemi is carrying young. It has been inferred that the long absent Western Heir, has been spending quite a bit of time with her. He stands before us, neither Feral nor dead. Surely if being Feral were contagious, her beta would already be showing signs of the infection."

"Being Feral isn't a contagion," Sango scoffed. Job security was hardly important when it came to Akemi's safety. "You can't catch it like you do the flu or HIV."

"Insanity breeds more insanity," Horace retorted.

"Then you've all been contaminated already," Akemi informed him shortly. "Every youkai and human in this room is now carrying the Feral threat. You had better exterminate us all."

The Eastern heir started in surprise and Kagome smirked. "Well, that is what you said," the miko shrugged smugly. "She just applied it your logic for you."

"But, but-"

"I am Feral, not stupid," Akemi snorted. "I can well see the foolishness of others.

"Again, the Feral Akemi has been proven to offer Friendship, pose no great threat and presents a great benefit to society in the form of information and peace of mind for those who need it most," Narumi gruffly stated, determined to get an actual vote accomplished before this cut and dried issue could suck up anymore time. He could be at home, curled up in his old comfy chair napping the day away in the sun. But instead, he had to be here, with these inconsiderate fools. And if they didn't get back down to business and cut out all the excess nonsense, he wouldn't get home in time for the sun to still be up. "The Pardon for this youkai has been brought before council for consideration. Now is time for the decision to be reached."

"The South and its peoples are for the pardon of Feral Akemi," the Queen declared firmly.

"The North is in Support of a pardon for the Feral Akemi," Magnus declared well aware that he'd be sleeping on the couch if he didn't. Anya had been greatly involved in the work to heal the Broken Pack since the discovery in their territory. To deny the 'Lost One' a chance to reenter society would land him in a _lot_ of very hot water.

"The West is for it," Sesshoumaru spoke before Taishou could, cutting off any foolish attempt to interfere and clearly letting the fool know dissent would not be tolerated.

"Yes, the West is," the Taishou gruffly stated.

"The miko obviously stand for it," Kagome voiced for her circle with no visible dissension from the rest.

"As are the Taijiya," Sango shortly stated. Her glare directed towards her fellow professionals was needless.

"The Broken Pack welcomes our alpha," Aramanda declared, clearly certain of Akemi's pardon going through. Three cardinal votes, plus the miko and Taijiya made it almost a certainty. Narumi, the mate-matchers, and the last cardinal lord would all have to oppose it before it became an issue for the lesser lords and Voices.

"The East is against it," Horace declared.

"Horace be still," Lord East hissed at his vocal son. He would allow the boy to argue all he wished in council but the vote was still the older neko's prerogative. Horace was still too hot-headed to be trusted with the vote. "East is in support of a pardon for the Feral Akemi.

"Then the pardon goes through for this Narumi also votes for it and the Mate-matcher's vote is unnecessary," Narumi declared. "This issue has been addressed and passed. Now remove the excess rabble from this Council hall and allow us to get back to the scheduled items for today." The old kumo glared the excess people out of his domain sternly. He was certain he would be hearing a lot more about the Feral in future, but that wasn't now and he had other things to do.


	25. Ch 24 Lost One

Whew, so now Akemi's free to wander back to the safe environs of Sesshoumaru's "den". heheh, not exactly.

Nothing is ever that easy in any fanfic I write because it was never that easy in the original Rumiko Takahashi Inuyasha Universe. Something always has to go wrong, make things complicated and difficult. But then I wouldn't be half so fun to read otherwise. Heh.

"**Lost One"**

One day, far into the future, the world will have learned enough of all its peoples to fully appreciate and admire each for the many unique traits, customs and rites for the sake of all the differences, instead of only admiring where personal gain can possibly result from these peculiarities.

For currently, the whole of society was unable to admire without referencing what the admired could do for themselves. We admire selflessness for the benefit it gives unto others – indirectly, ourselves. We befriend and cater to wealth for the money that inevitably spills onto the people surrounding it. And if we do not admire something, then there is nothing to be gained from admiring it.

Akemi had been widely admired and liked before her torment drove her to seek refuge in the wilds years ago. Word of her reappearance in the known world spread quickly like wild fire, spreading its influence outward from her actual presence in rapid ripples of unimaginable effect. And all the things she had been admired for were suddenly expected to be re instituted as though she had never dropped such behavior, been driven out of her mind and from society by them.

The problem with Akemi, Sesshoumaru decided, was the number of names attributed to her because of that moment in which she broke. As Akemi, simple female of the Taishou pack, betrothed female of the Western Heir, the expectation was that she would fill the roll of primary female of the pack and partner him in the cardinal seat upon the current Inu no Taishou's imminent retirement. In such a roll, she was important to the other cardinal lords and all of the lesser lords in the council that had decided her pardon today. They would begin to look at her and maneuver around her to learn how best to negotiate with or around her to get to him.

For even if Sesshoumaru disclaimed the position and title, no one else had yet to be declared heir so the old claim still stood. He was still the official heir and he looked, in the public sight, to be soon father to his own heirs by the same female as had always been planned.

The lesser lords at council were more worrisome than the cardinals. The lesser lords were always jockeying for more power, more influence. They could not aspire to the cardinal seats which were appointed positions, typically influenced by blood-lines. But the Cardinal lords did not decide everything. And even if they did, the best way to influence beyond your sphere, was to cozy up to one in power. Sesshoumaru had always disdained the sycophants. But they might think that "crazy" Akemi would be susceptible to a great deal. Worse, they could presume to threaten her to get their way, and being Feral she wouldn't know the official and correct ways to deal with it.

He had no doubt that Akemi would see strait through the liars and flatterers. She lived a simpler way and had so far proven better able to pick up the nuances in the behavior of others than he'd ever thought possible. But the threats, verbal or otherwise, were a real threat to be considered and worried over.

But that was a problem for another day.

Currently, his worry was reserved for the more prevalent issue of one of his alpha's other names.

The ones that dubbed Akemi their "Lost One".

He hadn't realized how big a problem they might present until he and the rest of Akemi's escort attempted to take her back to what she termed his "den".

Akemi had been through a rather trying day and there were documented cases where excessive emotional trauma had prompted miscarriage during early pregnancy. This was especially true in multiples as the stress of carrying so many at once was a great deal higher. Sesshoumaru couldn't imagine that it would be particularly good for her health to suffer anymore incidences so soon after having been put through the council situation.

Sesshoumaru may not have a perfect understanding of what exactly made a Feral tick, even where just his alpha was concerned, but it had to have been stressful for her. Hell even a non-feral would have found being handcuffed and dragged before such powerful figures would have found it terribly difficult to deal with while successfully refraining from going on the offensive. It was a natural impulse when threatened, to attack that which threatened you.

That Akemi hadn't pursued this natural response, despite how the appalling treatment had actually managed to draw blood, as he discovered upon closer inspection once freed of the Council's presence, only spoke to him of how great a strain she had put herself to in order to refrain. For his limited experience with his alpha since rediscovering her lead him to believe that Ferals lived their lives more in tune with their instincts than non-ferals generally seemed to. She couldn't have liked that situation and restraint of that nature could be taxing.

But, the council situation had followed on the heels of several other events fraught with similar nuances of stress and emotional difficulty. None of which could have been foreseen or prevented.

So all Sesshoumaru desired was to bring his alpha to the insured quiet and safety of the house he built for her. Far away from further vexation and prejudices.

What he saw upon their return to the Taishou private grounds, made his desires all but impossible to achieve.

There, stationed outside the wide edge of Kagome's powerful, protective barrier, lay in wait massive numbers of the Broken Pack. Like the obsessive fans or religious zealots, they milled about outside the place their idol, their alpha would be taking up residence with absolutely no signs of ever departing. They even had tents and campfires littering the grounds mere feet from galvanic spark of the miko powered shield that kept all strangers outside the house and immediate grounds itself.

There was no way to get Akemi through to the peace inside without making it through the crowd and Sesshoumaru greatly doubted she could handle the crush of so many strange youkai attempting to touch her.

Hell, he didn't think _he_ could handle that many people trying to lay hands on the female baring his young. No way.

"Perhaps we had better head to the main house and see if a solution presents itself after we have a chance to observe unseen for a time," Kikyou suggested upon perceiving this latest problem herself. It was fairly clear she didn't think it wise to take what had to be a high strung feral into a throng of youkai liable to semi-worship her on-sight. "I had not expected so great a crowd to arrive this quickly."

Morenda snorted, "The Broken Pack spreads news like a telephone-wire. Or perhaps a better analogy would be broadcasting it on the radio." She commented as she gently steared the convertible towards the big house of the Inu no Taishou. "She is the only one lost from our pack suddenly returned to us. It is hardly surprising we would come to be close to her." The kuroneko shrugged idly. "There has been a decidedly lacking sense of security which Kagome can only slightly sooth. Kagome wasn't the one who protected them during the worst of the hell we all lived through. Akemi was."

The car was parked discreetly around the side of the massive structure that had sheltered Sesshoumaru as a pup. Huge, nay gargantuan, he'd always felt slightly lost inside it. A feeling that had only left him when Akemi was there to fill up the space, bringing the size down to a comfortable level. Otherwise the place had always felt cavernous in its emptiness.

"We're just lucky Kagome taught her that trick of hiding her scent," Morenda continued, "otherwise they'd be over here already."

Quickly they smuggled Akemi into the Taishou mansion before the alarm could be raised that the awaited idol had switched lodgings on the masses. Sesshoumaru lead the way to the other side of the building and into his father's building, a room that offered a sufficient view of their latest challenge in getting his alpha safely through her first day outside the wilds.

"Do you think we should call for backup?" Morenda asked after concluding there was no chance of out waiting the crowd. "Kagome and her colleagues might be able to open a path in."

"I think the Taishou would be against inviting miko not of his clan onto his home grounds," Miroku called from the open doorway behind them.

"Miroku," Morenda called to the unorthodox monk she'd come to trust over the years in Kagome's care. He wasn't a bad sort, if a bit randy in his sense of humor. She'd come to understand that he'd even been something of a lech before Sango had finally taken him on as her own. Nowadays he wasn't a threat to the female back side. And he never meant any harm in his flirtatious teasing. "What are you doing here? Sango can't possibly be home yet."  
On days that Sango was required in council, Miroku's job was to watch their three kids, a job he generally partnered with Inuyasha's watch of his own pups. He wasn't released from this responsibility until the senior Taijiya returned home. "The kids disappeared on us," he sighed. "Inuyasha went to check out there and I picked the house." the monk glanced out the window at the uninvited guests camped out on what had been well manicured grounds. "They started showing up shortly after you left this morning and the numbers increase with every passing hour. The kids have been a bit excited about the hubbub and unmanageable all day."

"Then why did you even bother to check up here?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Because it was possible all the strange youkai would scare them into coming here to hide where no one was at home," the monk answered. "Each of the kids has a different personality and all have the ability to sense youki."

"Being as young as they are it could scare them as easily as draw them closer," Kikyou nodded. It all depended on how deeply they understood their abilities and how timid each was by nature. "So you took the house because Inuyasha would be better equipped to find them out there."

"Something like that," Miroku nodded. "We've been searching for about an hour but have yet to find a one of them."

"Beside the baby?" Morenda asked. Surely Kagome's infant son hadn't managed to lose them too.

Miroku shook his head. "Takara made sure not to leave her brother behind. She'd been doing that a lot lately."

"Great," Morenda grumbled. "So we not only have to find some way to get Akemi past the Broken Pack but some how manage to find five small children and hanyou and monk managed to lose."

"Speaking of Akemi," Miroku looked around. "Where is she?"

Sesshoumaru whipped around to look at the monk in surprise at the question before quickly inspecting the room for his alpha. With a sigh he noted that she was, indeed, once again missing from their company. "Damnit!"

Akemi had once again found something else to hold her attention. The problem the others were discussing had no real importance to her as she couldn't quite see what it was. There were strange youkai gathered outside the den her male intended to shelter her in but her escort had indicated these youkai were also considered part of her pack and therefore not a threat. She could deal with peripheral touching as she'd been forced to endure all day. So long as no one tried to hold her down or trap her in place, she would be fine.

And as she had successfully dismissed the problem absorbing the others, she was perfectly capable of taking note of a different scent in currently infiltrating the house than those of her entourage. One that wasn't in the direction the rest were headed. An aroma that snuck in on the mild breeze blowing through a door that lead into a small barren wilderness that was far too regular to fully remind her of the wilds she normally called home.

There were clearly defined paths staked out between overgrown patches of dormant branches and weeds, all leading towards a circular pond. The dark, murky water reflected the upside down image of the gray sculpture that protruded from the center of it, jutting up to about even with her middle another pool of still water reflecting nothing more than the sky above it. Something about the pond struck her as wrong. It should not be so still. Somehow she knew the upper pool should be dripping over the sides of its basin and brightly colored bodies darting under the fall of it.

She focused so hard on the water she almost forgot she was following a scent until movement reflected from the other side of the pond caught her attention.

There was a girl standing there carefully cradling a baby against her front and watching her. "You're that youkai mommy helped last night," the child identified her. "Are you supposed to be wandering around now? There was a lot of blood. I helped clean it up."

"I am sorry," Akemi apologized a bit confused as to how to deal with this situation. The children in the hospital place had not been quite so pointed in telling her about herself. They'd asked questions, true, but they had not dismissed the answers before she managed to speak.

"It's all right. Nothing to be sorry for," the amber eyed pup scoffed. "You came to mommy for help and survived because of it. That's a good thing. It couldn't be a bad thing if uncle Sesshoumaru. brought you."

"Uncle?" Akemi was unfamiliar with the various terms for family as yet, though she was slowly gaining an understanding for names. There were so many non-ferals, names identified the individuals.

"My papa's brother," the girl nodded. "that's uncle Sesshoumaru." Ah, so it was a term identifying a specific relation. Akemi didn't understand the need for such words within pack, but non-ferals were always strange and had strange ways.

"The male is inside," Akemi nodded her understanding to the pup.

"Probably trying to figure out a way past the crowd," the child nodded in response. "You can't just walk into that type of situation. They're liable to do crazy things. Papa and Uncle Miroku warned us not to go there."

Akemi glanced to the babe in her arms and wondered how the child could think a pup so young could go out there alone. Before the child continued. "But you know Hiro couldn't be bothered to listen and wherever he goes, Mari and Kaoru must follow. He's the oldest after all. Idiots."

"So you came here instead?" Akemi inquired. It seemed strange of a child to come out here where no one could watch her.

"I always come here after I get mad," the girl answered. "Nobody else does 'cause it used to be Uncle Sesshoumaru's garden and he wouldn't let anybody else in it. I like it here, though I wish it wasn't so ugly. Nobody takes care of it anymore."

Akemi glanced around absently. "There used to be flowers," she observed before realizing the flowers she remembered were nothing like the ones found in the wild. The flowers in the wild were hardy, small things that served a purpose. "Brightly colored and waving under the sun."

"Were there?" the pup sounded delighted at the mere idea. "Sometimes in the summer there are dandelions and what my mom called lilies. Were there pink flowers?"

Akemi hadn't realized she knew what pink was until she was called upon to recall the color of flowers in this small place and nodded without thinking about it. "And red ones. There were orange ones with yellow stripes and little bright sky colored ones." It was strange how some of the colors remained while others didn't.

"I wish I could see it," the pup sighed wistfully. "But grandpa won't hear of anyone working in this garden. Mommy says it reminds him of his failures to his son and – and," the girl glanced sharply up at her "-and another youkai that was precious to them all."

"You disappeared again," Sesshoumaru arrived on the scene once more.

Akemi glanced up at him before returning her gaze to the pup still wishing to see a garden of color were only grays no lived. "There used to be fish here," she told the child quietly, failing to note how her male's eyes widened at the disclosure. "Bright, fat ones." the child giggled at the idea.

"Takara," Sesshoumaru identified his niece sternly. "Inuyasha and Miroku have been looking for you for."

Takara ducked at the information, careful not to jostle her brother over much. "I know," she sighed. "I was just mad and wanted to get away from that idiot Hiro."

"Then why did you take your brother?" Sesshoumaru demanded gently. Well acquainted with the desire to be alone in this particular garden with his anger. It looked as though the place had not been kept up in his absence.

"Because he's pack," Takara answered like it was obvious. "He shouldn't be left out just because he can't walk and talk yet."

"You are right," Akemi answered gently. "Pack should not be abandoned or left behind. Any of it," she added pointedly in Sesshoumaru's direction. "You should return to where you belong, little one, as I should go meet some more of my pack as well."

"You're going out there?" Takara asked in amazement. "They -"

"They are my pack, or so I have been told," Akemi answered. "Just because a situation offers difficulty does not mean it should be avoided and I am hungry."

Sesshoumaru started, "We should have gotten you something while we were out."

"Uncle Sesshoumaru," Takara called to her uncle. "We can bring her something if you want. I mean she's probably really hungry. Mommy always was with Shin. And you can trust us to bring her good things. I know how to tell. Mommy taught me. Papa and I could bring it over right after you get through. Or, or um, the Broken Pack will probably be willing to supply food. We can weed out what's safe before you even get to the house."

Akemi considered the child thoughtfully. Anything that Takara could miss wouldn't get by Akemi's own ability to sense out spoiled food unsafe for her fetal pups, "It will be nice not to have to wait for a successful hunt before I eat." She was really quite hungry and could certainly live without the flavor a hunt put into the meat this once.

Sesshoumaru blinked at her and realized she hadn't eaten since before the disastrous hunting lesson the day before. How could he have missed that?


	26. Ch 25 The Broken Pack

All right, I'm terribly sorry I didn't post last week without some kind of warning. I didn't remember I should have put one up until after I had already posted, but I don't feel too bad about as I did let you guys know quite a ways back that regular posting was no longer guarranteed. Actually you're lucky you're getting a post this week too, as I just JUST finished typing this ten minutes ago.

Last weekend I went out of town...And saw WICKED on stage. Mmm, it was soo good! I really enjoyed it, though walking into the emotional mine field that was my second family's house was a bit of a surprise. ah, it just made things more interesting.

I came back home...reluctantly and went to work. Thursday came and I got upset with my boss, so I called into work on Friday and spent the weekend cleaning for the company coming next weekend. Hopefully I manage to write the chapter for next week sometime during the week, but if I don't, there won't be a post next weekend, sorry but that's just the way it is.

WRiting is not my life, much as I sometimes would love for it to be.

Rumiko Takahashi doesn't seem to have this problem though. oh well, maybe I just fall short as an author.

**The Broken Pack**

A feral, by nature of being feral, couldn't help but amaze and impress all observers simply because there was so much incorrect and missing information concerning their social behaviors. The non-feral world's sum exposure to the Feral youkai it produced was limited to the moments these poor abused and unbalanced souls took to flee from society into the wild and the rare cases when they returned to it again in desperate need of food. The fact that Akemi did not attack upon deliverance of a verbal threat was enough to leave those around her in awe. That she managed to remain coherent and still when she had been wrongly incarcerated and restrained stunned them even more without her even trying.

This was only because no one knew a nervous Feral was always still. A non-physical threat meant nothing to them and could be easily dismissed. Ferals simply didn't know the rules of society and cared not for the petty disrespect that would send a non-feral into a violent fit. Insult meant nothing and it was the same for adulation. A Feral simply didn't care.

The Broken Pack, on the other hand, was well acquainted with the expectation and behaviors of the society that barely held them in.

Moreover, they truly idolized their lost alpha, the inu Feral Akemi.

It wasn't that the Broken Pack didn't have perfectly good reasons for their general adoration of Akemi. She was, in essence, their hero. Akemi had been the one thing that stood between them and worse abuse trapped as they all had been in the school chosen by their supposedly loving families. In a dark time when most of them could do no more than retreat and cry out in pain and despair, Akemi reached out to shield as many of the others as she could.

Ultimately, Akemi's acts to save the others lead to her own fall, but prevented the others from following suit.

Yes, the Broken Pack had ample reason to admire their "Lost One" in all the ways any group ever admired any one person in the world. The would continue to worship the ground she walked on until she failed to meet their expectations and then they would turn on her in true zealous fashion. The years since they lost sight of her had only added to the things they remembered and attributed to her character such as would happen with any other legendary figure not present to defend the reality of themselves.

It was why celebrities' lives were generally considered so dangerous. The mob as a living, unmanageable entity was unpredictable. And history was littered with the times when the crowd's exultation turned lethal for the one towards whom it was directed. And Akemi was one of the more endangered celebrities, her fame was established by a set of selfless actions, making it all the easier to upset the hordes' expectations. The minute she refused to give something of herself, to insist on keeping something from the masses, her number was up. They would attack her for selfishness. But if she never did so, she would spend herself fatally someday.

Sesshoumaru and company were well-aware of this fact. It was what they were worried about when they'd first spied the crowd gathered to welcome Akemi back into the fold and back into her former position of hero and martyrdom. The last thing a pregnant female needs to be.

Akemi had summarily dismissed these concerns in her temperate Feral fashion, striding right into the danger without visible care or worry.

She had been told they were pack, been claimed as their alpha. As such she would take the responsibility.

She wasn't a fool. Being pack didn't mean they wouldn't hurt her. After all, if pack never hurt other pack members, half the Ferals in the wild wouldn't have found their way out there. Still, she was determined to face this as she had faced the evils of that strange metal beast and the smelly white building, head on. One could only decide how to deal with a situation properly once immersed in it. And a Feral didn't hide from a problem that had to be dealt with.

If Akemi was going to be staying in this non-feral world, this problem had to be addressed. The sooner the better. Regardless of what her beta and present protectors thought, it was now or never. She either dealt with this now or she might as well just run back to the wild and take her chances there.

Much as she would prefer to do that, she'd made the decision to stay and stay she would.

"This is not a good idea," Miroku murmured as the entire group neared the gathered members of the abused and traumatized Broken Pack discovered upon Akemi's escape into the wild.

"You think we do not realize that?" Kikyou murmured back at him.

"Look you guys it's probably not as bad as you think it's going to be," Morenda tried to soothe their worries. "The Broken Pack is not likely to hurt her on purpose."

"Oh I don't doubt they _intend_ her no harm," Sesshoumaru growled uneasily. "Their _intentions_ were never the issue."

"They _can_ hear you, you know," Inuyasha approached them from wherever he'd been in his attempt to hunt down Miroku's brats. "Every last one of them."

Akemi glanced up at him before pointedly directing her gaze to the child trailing in her wake. "Found something of yours," she told him before moving past him nonchalantly.

"Hi, Papa," Takara greeted her father meekly and cringed at the look he gave her.

"Where have you been?" Inuyasha growled sternly. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Do you know what kind of trouble we all would've been in if your mother came home and you still weren't there?"

"Akemi found her up by the house," Kikyou answered for the retreating pup. "She apparently went there to calm down after an argument with the Monk's boy."

"Apparently, Hiro couldn't be concerned with following the rules we established about staying away from here. Takara tried to talk him into staying at the house like we told them too," Miroku sighed wearily. Truly, his boy was an absolute brat sometimes. "And wherever he goes, his sisters always follow."

"Still," Inuyasha gruffly refused to let the issue drop altogether. "She should have told us where she was going, and with Shin."

"What? And be labeled the squealer, Inuyasha?" Miroku smirked at him. "She did what she could to keep them from breaking the rules."

"The only recourse she had after that to keep them from getting in trouble was to keep her mouth shut," Kikyou continued for him.

"Reminds me of Kagome," Morenda added in the concerted effort to keep Takara from getting into too much trouble. "Amazingly enough, Hiro's more like Inuyasha than Miroku."

"Don't be too sure of that," Kikyou shook her head. "Miroku shows a pointed distaste for following the rules of Monk hood on his own. He was rather given to lechery in his younger days I understand. And he certainly was not above lying to gain what he wanted before Sango took him in hand."

"Really," Morenda gazed at the flustered monk pensively. "I always thought he was just a terrible flirt."

"Oh no," Inuyasha smirked. "When we first met him he was a fairly legitimate conman and he tried to scam Sango out of the cash to pay for his bar tab and her underwear. She wound up smacking him so hard he saw stars for day. The damage she caused to the bar made the cost of his standing account at the Bone Eater's Well negligible by comparison. And we were stuck with his concussed carcass for two days before Sango could get anything out of him to pay her back."

"I was not a conman," Miroku protested.

"So very true," Inuyasha mocked the upset father of three. "You just lived from one conned pocket of money to the other."

"I never sold anything," Miroku insisted. "I can't help that others felt the need to generously offer a meal here and there. And it would be rude to refuse such kindnesses."

"Especially when there was still a skirt to get under and pants to get into," Inuyasha added for him.

"This topic is inappropriate in front of children," Kikyou declared. "And aren't your children still missing?" she pointedly glanced at the monk.

"Hey yeah," Miroku nodded and glared at his hanyou friend. "Why haven't you found my kids yet? We found yours."

"You forget," Inuyasha grumbled. "Hiro's been spending time with Kagome. He hasn't quite mastered the art of hiding his scent, but he's got it down well enough to make it impossible to track him down in that mess."

They all glanced back at the crowded Broken Pack to find that Akemi and her beta had long ago preceded them. "I'm beginning to wonder if we should all admire her focus," Morenda pondered aloud. Akemi smoothly wandered in and out of the ranks of her pack carefully insuring she made at least passing acquaintance of every member present. "Oh wow. Even Grace made it." Morenda hurried forward to help Akemi with the poor blinded Kuma.

"Papa," Takara moved forward to tug on the sleeve of Inuyasha's red shirt. "We need to get something for her to eat."

Inuyasha glanced down at her a second before her words fully registered in his brain. He well remembered Kagome's last pregnancy as he was certain, Takara did. If his little girl was bringing it to his attention that Akemi needed food, she probably did. "All right kiddo," he swung he daughter up into his arms careful of her hold on shin. "Let's go see what the Broken Pack has to offer for a breeding alpha."

"Come along monk," Kikyou spurred Miroku into movement before following after Morenda. "You still have children to find."

As they finally braved the last small expanse of ground left clear of bodies Akemi made it to the youkai Morenda had been so surprised to see.

The female Kuma was of a larger bone structure than most the youkai gathered on the green grass. All members of the Broken pack had suffered under all the forms of abuse ever imagined. Verbal and emotional and physical, they suffered until some broke and became mere shells, creatures with no independent will at all, hardly more than a heap of fears. All had various things they feared quite rationally, though the strength of the emotion had all the Psychology professors and practitioners terming them as phobias.

Grace had been sent to the Northern school to learn the refinements necessary for a female destined and promised to fill the role of mate to relatively powerful male in the Kuma clans of the central territories. Her future mate was to assume the head of council position when Narumi stepped down and needed a female proficient in the various required diplomatic gestures needed to compliment him in his work. Kuma, by nature were not overly aggressive, they were fairly calm and a bit placid making them ideal for mediators with their power and size to enforce their decisions and a strong desire for domestic peace. She hadn't needed to be taught submission. Hadn't needed it to be forced upon her.

She did however have a indomitable sense of right and wrong, and abusing the weak rang false with her. Grace, as would occur with any kuma, protested the abuse of others smaller and more vulnerable than herself until eventually, after multiple merciless beatings, the whip landed off its mark and took her sight, permanently.

Many of the Broken Pack feared strangers, feared males, suffered severe claustrophobia, or simply remained completely unable to self-initiate any personal thought of their own.

And some, like Grace, suffered a severe form of Agoraphobia. She didn't handle open, unfamiliar spaces very well, and feared crowds even more. And without her sight her fears were compounded a great deal more.

"You fear me," Akemi observed.

"She can't see you," Morenda explained gently, holding onto Grace's hand comfortingly. "Grace was blinded up North and with you hiding your scent and your youki..."

"I understand," Akemi studied her frightened pack mate consideringly. The female was afraid because she couldn't sense where Akemi was. And, the feral imagined, she was also afraid of the numbers around her because she couldn't keep track of them all. Blindness was not an injury common in surviving ferals, but the Feral way was to survive against all odds, and Akemi as her alpha would do what she could to ensure the continued survival of all her pack.

"I'm actually surprised you had the courage to come out here," Morenda told her pack sister in admiration. The kuroneko was practically the only pack member friendly with the reclusive kuma. And that was only because Kagome insisted on visiting the Kuma several times a week. "You wanted to meet her that much."

Grace nodded with terrified tears in her eyes. Her heart was pounding painfully in her heart and she wasn't sure how much longer it would sustain her at such a pace, but she wouldn't leave. The kuma well remembered the pink inu that had protected her along with the others after she was blinded. Akemi had taken more than one beating in her place. The least Grace could do was over come her fears to meet the only one of them to fall completely.

A ripping sound cause the kuma to jump and Sesshoumaru jumped at Akemi's elbow in surprise as the feral yanked the sleeve off her borrow shirt. Before he could prevent it, his alpha dragged a claw over the palm of her left hand and rubbed the bloodied wound into the now unsalvageable cloth.

"Extend your hand, please," Akemi gently asked of her terrified pack mate.

Grace's blind eyes gazed confusedly in the Feral's direction without moving to comply with the strange request.

Morenda silently urged the kuma to extend her right wrist in Akemi's direction and watched carefully as the Feral wrapped the torn sleeve around Graces arm carefully. The minute the kuma was allowed the retract her extended arm the scent of Akemi flooded the local area, potent as the small amount of blood left on the fabric tied around her wrist.

Grace visibly calmed, before her face contorted in concern. "You should not be bleeding yourself for us any more," she attempted to scold the feral despite the noticeably visible comfort she took in her impromptu gift. "You are breeding."

"And you are pack, as no Feral ever had before," Akemi dismissed her concern. "It would be remiss of your alpha not to do something so small to calm you."

"But you are carrying and in need of food," Sesshoumaru interrupted her.

Akemi shook her head at him, "Before that my pack needs shelter. The weather is going to change, and they cannot all fit in your den."

Sesshoumaru blinked down at her.

"We would not want to stay in there with you," Grace declared firmly. "It is safer if Kagome's barrier remains in place, something that cannot happen if you open it to all of us. We are content simply to stay near you."

"Where will you stay then? Where shall you take shelter from the cold that comes?" Akemi demanded.

"We brought our own portable houses," another pack mate insisted. "We'll be fine."

Akemi glanced over the flimsy looking domes they were trying to pass off as shelter dismissively. "This will not do."

Sesshoumaru could easily see where this was going. It was instinct for an alpha to insure the needs of all those in their care were met properly. Most youkai nowadays did this through the use of negotiable currency and political clout. Akemi had neither and wouldn't know what to do with them if she had.

"Well, what about putting them all up in the big house," a rather bold boy spoke up from behind the large kuma he'd been rudely trying to sneak up on and scare in true boyish prank fashion. "The only person living up there right now is the Taishou."

"Hiro," Miroku addressed his now found son sternly "where are your sisters?"

"They are right here," The unrepentant male replied. "I don't know what you are so afraid of, these girls haven't so much as tried to get closer than a foot from us."

"You were forbidden to come up here more as protection for them from your bad behavior," Miroku declared firmly. The lie rolling so easily off his lips it was almost impossible to detect it as a falsehood. "Kaoru and Mari," he called his girls out from hiding. "You knew you weren't supposed to come out here. Just wait until your mother finds out about this."

Kaoru's lip trembled with upset and Mari just started bawling at the mere threat.

"I see we found your wet-nosed girls and that brat you call a son," Inuyasha called tauntingly to Miroku.

"I don't want to hear the from you," Miroku grumbled.

"You must be losing your touch," Inuyasha teased the monk mercilessly. "You didn't used to make all the girls cry like that."

"Shut up," Miroku replied.

"Hey can we get back to my suggestion to moving all the scaredy girls into Taishou's big house before we all die of boredom here?" Hiro impertinently interrupted the grown ups nonsensical arguing.

"What's that?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Akemi has expressed concern for her pack camping out on the lawn," Sesshoumaru explained.

"And I said they should just move into the big house," Hiro added, determined to get credit for the idea, especially for the part where it put the great annoying Inu no Taishou out. Hiro had a problem with grown ups in general, but with the Taishou especially.

"It's not a bad idea," Inuyasha acknowledged. "Except the part where dad would have to stay with us. No way would Kagome trust him to stay around the Broken Pack unsupervised."

"It's certainly large enough," Morenda observed.

"Then we'd better get everyone moved in before the Taishou comes back from council," Miroku suggested. "It'd be harder for him to protest and kick out fifty plus bodies when they've already been established."

"See," Inuyasha said to the side Morenda was standing on with her hand wrapped around Grace's arm, "that's a professional conman for you."

Takara giggled despite not knowing exactly what was said. She just knew her papa was teasing her uncle.

"Then go do it," Kikyou advised. "While you pack them up to move, see if anyone has something handy to feed Akemi." Takara, Inuyasha, Morenda and Sesshoumaru glanced back at the miko startled once more that the reality of Akemi's hunger had escaped them yet again.

Typed and Written: August 31, 2009


	27. Ch 26 Strange Memory

Terribly sorry about missing last week, but I couldn't have written a thing then to save my life. Somethings went down at work and lets just say, I got the short end of the stick. I've been so upset about it while it was open that I've had trouble eating, and focusing on anything else.

But it is now resolved, for better or worse. And mostly to my detriment. But there's an end to it, so maybe now I can start eating normally again, and writing.

Speaking of, there's a bit of a time jump between this chapter and the last one. Mainly because Inu no Taishou's reaction is immaterial to the plot, hilarious though it probably was. Enjoy it on your own, imagine it yourself. Some things I feel are better left that way.

Rumiko Takahashi obviously felt that way, She loved to be vague about people who were already dead and only alluded to throughout all of the anime.

**Strange Memory**

Despite many impotently vociferous protests from the Taishou upon finding himself essentially evicted from his titled home without what he considered due process, the Broken Pack was adequately established and happily ensconced in the Taishou manse before the end of that first day. And the arrangement proved sufficiently convenient for everyone involved excepting the Taishou of course.

The Broken Pack was large in its numbers and each had special needs for their daily lives.

Oh nothing so difficult to care for in mass numbers as keeping track of allergies and such, but little quirks and fears developed as a direct result of the abuse each had suffered. Besides Kagome, there wasn't a single person outside the Broken Pack who was aware what each individual needed, but in the case of housing and sleeping, the situation could be easily addressed. Some required company of other pack members to sleep comfortably, terrified of being alone and vulnerable as each had been kept while in captivity and the mansion could supply rooms large enough to house such sleeping arrangements. Others could not stand to sleep near any one else and the House sprawled enough to keep them housed together but still supply the illusion of solitude.

There were rooms in which no member of the pack would set foot, the Taishou's private suite being among them. And one which every member felt the need to visit at least once ever so often though no one would settle in it through unspoken agreement.

This last room was the one that had housed Akemi as a girl before being sent away to school and nowhere else could the Broken pack find her calming scent so thickly concentrated, as the youkai herself always hid hers and the bloodied sleeve Grace kept tied around her wrist after receiving it was soon mostly overpowered by the kuma's scent anyway. Beyond that even, Akemi had been certain to teach the kuma how to hide it.

Akemi established a rotating schedule with each of her new pack mates. She worked with them regularly to help them master their fears, teaching them new skills that negated what caused most of them in the first place. She taught them the ways of the Feral and soothed them beyond what her mere limited presence could do.

In return, they insured she was kept well fed as their alpha and never once did they make the actual demands that Sesshoumaru and Kikyou had originally feared might be made. Many of the Broken Pack would never have made any demands regardless. The abuse they had suffered under had made them so timid as to be unable to even think of needing anything beyond what they were already given. Some were fiercely determined to do very well on what they already had. Each accepted only what was offered by Akemi, and some argued against her even offering in the first place.

Each night, after feeding Akemi a sufficient amount for her to continue carrying her burden healthily, the pack sent their alpha back to the house that Sesshoumaru built in the company of her beta. Kagome, leaving around the same time, erected a barrier over the large manse and took to her home as well.

No one not of the Broken Pack was allowed to approach the mansion without Akemi or Kagome present.

When Akemi emerged from her den in the morning and approached the house, the miko's barrier would fall and the place was open for visitors. Of which there seemed no end.

The Broken Pack was often visited by parents, foster parents and siblings. Family members who had, until the return of the Feral Akemi, housed the girls released into their care. Some were upset that their daughter or sister had left the homes they provided and their care. These responsibilities having been usurped by the dubious capabilities of a crazy youkai. Just as often, they were visited by hopeful fiances believing that the sudden willful decision of their promised females to leave their homes was a good sign that they would no longer remain single. Occasionally, their visitors had more official reasons for appearing.

Visitors, one and all, were carefully monitored by the Feral alpha protecting her pack with the assistance of her beta and Kagome or her miko phantom. Only rarely was a visit allowed to pass unsupervised and so far only two suitors had been cleared for that privilege.

Horace, the neko heir of the Eastern Territory, was not one of them. He was watched constantly by the Feral Akemi through each of his visits to the Taishou house.

The whole situation, according Horace's mind, was insulting. He was the Eastern Heir, if he wanted to visit his betrothed, that was his right. And he didn't need a damn chaperone, his affianced had no more virtue to lose. But nothing he did seemed to get that point across to the Feral bitch. What was more is that he really didn't see the need for Morenda and he to be simply engaged any more. They should already be mated so he could personally see to her emotional and mental wounds.

So one morning, as soon as the barrier came down but before Akemi could know he was present, Horace stole into the house and headed straight for the kuroneko's room. Certain that he had to get her alone to accomplish what he wanted.

In a strange, round about way, the Eastern neko truly did love his betrothed. He always had. His way of going about showing it was usually where he messed up though. When Morenda had been away at school during Horace's coming of age a strange notion came into his head. In some twisted turned-about way he'd desired to offer the best to his female on her return, so Horace took to sleeping around so prolifically it had scandalized most of society. Because Morenda would never know any other lover than himself, he was determined to be the best one in the world. Of course, in order ensure that he'd had to practice a lot.

He'd even been fairly confident that he'd accomplished his goal when disaster struck.

The Northern School had been exposed for the horrors it housed and the damage it had wrought. And that puritan shikon miko, Kagome, had refused to let him within twenty feet of his Morenda. But he'd still had hope even then, surely his kuroneko female would return to him in time, aware of what he'd done to offer her the best and searching for the healing and comfort he, as her mate, would provide her.

But Morenda had only ever shied away from him, confusing and frustrating Horace.

Then the Feral had entered the picture and while he was able to get closer to her, the Feral's rules were strict and unwritten, often changing at will. He couldn't understand the reasoning behind them and he was still getting nowhere with Morenda.

But this time he would speak to Morenda alone. Surely alone Horace could get her to agree to mating him the way they'd always been meant to.

"Morenda," Horace called out upon breaching his fiance's chosen sanctuary, glad Morenda was one to prefer being alone.

"What are you doing in here?" Morenda asked nervously, attempting to wrap her robe more tightly around her despite being fully covered all ready. "Where's Akemi?" She knew damn well that Horace was not cleared to be in the house unsupervised, in fact Akemi had been determined to watch him personally.

Horace growled at her in frustration, "I don't need her to see my betrothed!"

Morenda attempted to curl more in on herself without looking like it. There were times, Horace scared her more than she cared to admit. She knew, abstractly, that she had once loved him with all her heart. She still did, but more than she loved him she feared what he wanted of her. All of the borderlines did. Repeated rape did strange things to a youkai. She feared him the more for his reputation, his voracious appetite for the type of encounter that disturbed her the most. She knew he didn't understand. She knew he was not happy and she'd known it in every meeting.

But she also knew he never intended her harm, Morenda just had to hope that extended to her emotional well-being as well as the physical. "Could you please leave?" She was feeling a bit claustrophobic at the moment. He was getting a little too close for her comfort, closing in on her and there was a good chance she really would have to act out her discomfort violently if he didn't back up.

"Why do you deny me?" Horace whined a bit hurt that she was pushing him away. "Why won't you just mate with me and let me make you better?" Morenda gaped at him horrified. Was he really that dense? She got that he hadn't fully understood how she felt but she hadn't thought he was so completely ignorant of how she felt.

"Why do you insist on misbehaving?" a voice called from the door that had Morenda relaxing a bit. Akemi had come to the rescue, her beta at her back.

Horace glared at the interfering female, ire clear in his gaze. He leaned closer to Morenda's ear and whispered loud enough for the Feral to hear across the room, "See, even the Feral managed to mate with someone. She bears his pups already. Why can't you mate with me?"

Akemi growled as she stalked closer to the offending male. "You have been warned to keep your distance and modify your behavior, you make my pack nervous."

"Why do you blame your pack for your nervousness?" Horace demanded angrily. "If I make you nervous that is no fault of my own. Stop cowardly -"

Akemi chuckled dryly, "You are a pup, easy prey. A deluded bully, incapable of offering me the slightest challenge. You offer me no difficulty, and frighten me not at all. When I say you make my pack nervous, I mean you make my pack nervous."

Horace shook with rage, but Sesshoumaru stalled any response with his words, "Ferals do not play with words," this much he had learned. "They see no point." Especially when they used all their senses to establish their reality. The inu almost snorted at the continued thought. Speech only addressed and befuddled a small fraction of a Feral's lie detectors.

"You were asked to leave, neko," Akemi reminded the Eastern Heir sternly.

Horace snarled at the crazy youkai, "All they all need to do is submit to their males long enough to be mated and this Broken Pack business would all be cleared up! Then there'd be no need for you at all!" He would have continued, full steam ahead, except for the strange sound that suddenly escaped the Feral female.

Slowly Akemi's knees seemed to collapse and she sank to the floor with an ungraceful landing. Something had obviously shaken the Feral considerably.

Sesshoumaru glared at the damn neko, but the greatest danger did not come from his reaction to the situation.

The pack had learned fairly quickly that, though the memories of their shared torment in the north and the time before it was not easily recalled by their Feral sister, they could be jogged to the surface by simple things. As had occurred in the garden on that first day, familiar places and things could bring to surface memories of previous experiences in the same location. Sometimes a wayward scent was enough to bring some impressions and memories of the past to the surface. Even more rarely, mere words could do the same.

Sesshoumaru had taken to guiding Akemi through all of their childhood haunts to remind her of happy childhood moments. He was hoping to prove that not all her experiences before going Feral had been bad.

The rest of the pack had been doing their best to prevent Akemi from remembering the abuse she'd suffered in the North. It was a pact they had all sworn to, determined that whatever small amount of peace had allowed her to return to them and reconnect with her male remain in tact.

Horace, through his tantrum had seemingly nullified all their efforts with his callous words about submission. And Morenda would never forgive him for it. "Get out of hear you, pompous, insensitive, ineffective, bullying excuse for a tom cat!" she snarled at him, her bloodied eyes dark with rage. With a sudden move that took him by surprise she launched him out her small window to the frozen grounds below before following him with a more controlled descent to continue his punishment where her sisters could join her in it fully.

The room fell into a strange silence broken only by the sound of Sesshoumaru moving to try and break his alpha out of her sudden confused trance.


	28. Ch 27 Breaking the Surface

Um...Yeah, there are some things going on in this chapter. Okay, okay I'll be more specific. Sesshoumaru gets his wish.

Which is more than I could say for anything Rumiko Takahashi did for him. Seriously, when did she ever give him what he wanted? He wanted Tessaiga, she gave it to Inuyasha. He wanted to be left alone, she stuck him with Jaken, Ah-Un and the Rin. He wanted to become more powerful and she only pits him against low-level enemies. Really Inuyasha gets to beat all the heavy bad guys. Where's the love for the Fluffinator?

Then again, I always have to torment him a little before giving him what he wants. It's absolutely necessary I tell you! So don't expect too much waffiness in here. It doesn't fit the tone of the story at all.

enjoy!

**Breaking the Surface**

Sesshoumaru was well aware what kind of memories Horace's ill-thought words had likely triggered. He'd even been present the last time a demand for Akemi's submission had been delivered by her repeated rapist that day she vanished into the wilds, feral and lost to him. He'd attacked for her then, though Akemi had taken care of the problem on her own.

This time it was her own mind he had to fight and mere words plucked out of the air that caused the problem.

He couldn't undo the memories of her hellish days and nights caught in the hands of the Arctic Cobra that had kept her down. He couldn't erase the past or even disconnect the triggers that lay undiscovered to bring the memories to light.

Going Feral had been the only fix for it at the start of all this, and even that protection was wearing thin.

No, he couldn't fix this situation at all, no more than Akemi could go back to their childhood and prevent the evils that befell her because of his father's willful refusal to acknowledge her true nature. But Sesshoumaru could affect the situation before him and he could break her out of the state she'd fallen into. He could break the chains of pain and impressions left in the ridiculous demand that she, an abused alpha, submit after having it forced upon her in the most atrocious of ways.

Akemi had been forced to submit, so Sesshoumaru would offer his submission instead.

Akemi was trapped in memories of a time where control had been taken from her, control over even the sanctity of her body. So Sesshoumaru would offer her control of more than simply her own fate, but his as well.

The inu beta nearly sighed at his decision. It wasn't something that had been done in recent memory. Alpha females were rare in inu clans, and seldom were they alphas over a male. Typically they shared alpha status with an alpha mate as the pack required. Never was it the other way around, and even in the case of Sesshoumaru and Akemi, with he being a natural beta, it would have been Akemi submitting to Sesshoumaru when they mated.

He had no point of reference on how to go about this as inu did not usually require absolute submission of their pack, not if it was a normal, healthy clan. And only in the act of mating was the female ever required to submit physically to her male by presenting herself. There was no precedent for a male to submit to a female. And the only canines that offered and accepted complete submission between its male members, that he knew of were common dogs, mere animals.

With some more thought his eyes hardened with resolve, if there were no inu custom to pull this off with, then he would resolve to the animalistic customs of his lesser cousins. With a nod no one was around to see, he began to undo the buttons on the cuffs of his long sleeved button down shirt. Carefully, checking to ascertain that the door was firmly closed despite the openness of the broken window he moved on to the buttons down the front of his shirt, stepping around his glassy-eyed alpha.

He hated to see her like this. Akemi, as a Feral, had been wonderfully secure in herself and her personal abilities. It was almost like she had indestructible self-esteem except he doubted she saw it as actual self-worth. She simply knew herself really well, despite the lack of memory.

There were times he felt guilty about bringing her back here. In the wild, Akemi was in her element. She knew how to live in it and by it and taking her out of it was like stranding a fish on land. But the displacement hadn't been as bad as the memories pushing the surface.

Akemi had taken every strange new thing in stride, unthreatened by its strangeness unless it actually moved in to hurt her, as nothing had yet. The hospital, the doctors, the very car they'd taken her hither in had driven no overt response of nerves or fear. The only bad reaction he had seen out of her had been when they'd locked her in the black and white car.

And he'd later attributed that to the memories the circumstances reminded her of.

The new memories altered her view of herself with each new uncovered recollection her perception changed, and though it was difficult to tell, it left her shaken. Changing her environment had offered no fundamental change in who she was and what she was capable of. As such, she'd known what she could handle, what situations wouldn't offer her any real threat and been calm in the face of them. New memories altered that and readjusting her personal parameters took time she didn't exactly have the leisure for.

These memories, the ones that shook her most, presented her with more of the vulnerabilities she'd never known she had.

He feared what this new set of memories would do. Would she go back to fearing his touch, flinching away from him as Akemi had on the day she ran? His heart seized in his chest at the thought, causing him to pause in tugging his shirt from the waist of his pants.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes on the pain. It couldn't be helped now. What's done is done. No undoing it, like there was no undoing so many other things that hurt.

Sesshoumaru tossed his unbuttoned shirt negligently away from him and dropped one of Morenda's blankets on the now chilled floor. The weather had turned colder since Akemi had come back and the broken window would need to be fixed.

All things that would have to be seen to later.

With a deep breath, Sesshoumaru lowered himself carefully to the floor and stretched out on his back, presenting his belly to Akemi, offering his vulnerability up to his alpha in hopes that giving her a situation where she was in complete control could break her out of the memories where she had none.

He felt no shame in doing this. He was a beta, his instinct was to do whatever his alpha required to remain healthy, offering support when needed, comfort as required and opposition when she needed to be roped in from giving too much of herself. If she needed his submission, then he was comfortable with giving it. Though the act of submitting in this way made him nervous. Sesshoumaru wasn't certain if his message would come across sufficiently.

When merely baring himself to her brought no response, he whined quietly to snag her attention.

This time Akemi's eyes snapped to look at him. Upon taking in what he offered a growl sounded low in her throat that he didn't understand but trusted could mean nothing really bad for him. Not that it wouldn't be well with in her right to hurt him if she chose to. He no longer had a say. She could dig her claws into Sesshoumaru's stomach and gut him right now and it would be well within the bounds of what he offered.

He doubted she would do that though as she leaned over placing her left hand next to the hip farthest away from her.

Akemi hovered over him, caging him in to a certain extent. Her nose came in close over his belly, near the button at the waist of his trousers, sniffing his skin. He nearly jumped out of his skin when her tongue darted out to lick the pale skin just under the waistband that still lay in its usual place.

With a sudden growl that actually _did_ make Sesshoumaru jump in surprise, Akemi tore the material of his trousers open, shredding it carefully with her deadly claws., further exposing him from nose to groin.

If Sesshoumaru hadn't been slightly nervous before, he was now. Gutting him was one thing, neutering him actually sent fear through his whole being. With her newly recalled memories it was well within the scope of possibilities. Many of the Broken Pack had demonstrated more than a mild interest in castrating all males they associated with after being released from their captivity, he had been told. Some still did as had been alluded to in Council the day Akemi's pardon had been made official.

If she was going to damage him he'd really rather it didn't include that part of his anatomy, but there was nothing he could do about it now. She was in charge, placed in that position by his own actions. If he survived this, Sesshoumaru was definitely going to take out every wound she inflicted on his skin on that damnable neko, Eastern heir or not.

With firm command, Akemi's deadly clawed hand took possession of that most sensitive part of him even as it happily rose at being bared before her attention. Her touch didn't hurt him even if she did squeeze just a bit tighter than he normally would have preferred. Not that he was paying too much attention to such a small detail when her fangs nipped at the top of his private fur, leaving slightly reddened welts on his pale, smooth skin, followed by a soothing sweep of her hot moist tongue.

Oh heavens, Sesshoumaru groaned in reaction as her mouth danced over the skin of his exposed belly, covering his abdomen and then slowly raising to his chest. The moist trails rapidly evaporating in the chill air wafting in through the jagged hole in the window made him even more aware of the fever she was raising below the surface. Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly starved for this kind of attention, but the mere thought of what it could mean left him slightly breathless beyond actually onslaught to his senses.

Akemi meticulously covered every inch of bared skin while her hand demanded reaction from him that would conceivably cause him pain when she dragged his seed from his body to waste on his own skin. She wasn't really thinking about her actions, just following her instinct, reacting to the situation as she found it. He'd given her the right to dominance, and she was taking it, rolling it over him and proving her hold in the most basic of ways. She literally crisscrossed his torso with slightly raised lines she bathed liberally with her saliva, staining his flesh with her scent to mark her acceptance of ownership. He would be covered in her scent before she was done, saturated to the point it would make his head spin. And, if she could somehow manage it, he willed be filled wit her too.

With a slight growl of annoyance she paused in her efforts to drag release from his hardened body in order to remove her own clothing before returning to her conquest, this time answering his whimper to protest her divided attention by straddling the flesh already marked by her tongue and scent. Her clawed hand returned to the task of dragging his pleasure out at her will.

She continued to skim her teeth and tongue over his shoulders as she pressed down over his lower belly, rubbing her strongest scent area over his skin to stain it more thoroughly. Her task was made easier when his entire body arced involuntarily in a painfully passionate release that left him only partially sated as he could not fully reach the heavens in the open air.

Sesshoumaru whined in the pain of empty orgasm. His breath, heavy and gasping hardly conveyed his full discomfort. He had no idea what she meant to do beyond this torment, but he was certain she had proved her point. Surely she wouldn't make him do it again. His amber eyes squeezed tightly closed as she continued to prove just how much power she had over him a second time causing him to release just a bit more, but compounding the pleasure pain that bounced through his whole body at the knowledge of how close relief physically was but still unable to achieve it.

Sesshoumaru's mind reeled at the sensory overlord, too overwhelmed to realize he could actually taste her scent in the air. He couldn't even process that she was rubbing it thoroughly into his hide, though he certainly felt it.

He didn't think she was being deliberately cruel. Inu knew that mating was about dominance beyond the simple rut. That she chose to demonstrate he would find true pleasure only at her discretion was within her rights as the alpha he called her. The alpha whose pleasures he was to see to.

If this were a normal relationship, and Akemi had presented herself to him, he could have done the same before following it with the actual, official mating that would have left his mark on her skin and his youki and scent buried under it. This situation had ramifications he hadn't even considered before presenting himself to his alpha. And he currently wasn't coherent enough to ponder them now as once again she dragged painful pleasure from him.

This time she gathered all that he'd managed to produce for her in her hand and rubbed it into the skin she had already twice marked with her scent, mixing the proof of his submission into it before allowing him the pleasure of sinking into the heaven he often sought. His groan of relief shook through their joined bodies as she finally licked her way to the side of his jugular she suddenly favored.

Sweet relief swept through him that this time he would be able to fully release, glad that she had decided to end his torment finally. Had he truly been able to think it through, he might have realized her efforts would allow him to reach greater heights than he'd achieved previously.

Sesshoumaru didn't last long, primed as he had been by her previous work, mere short seconds ticked by before he exploded inside her, practically knotting the minute she'd slid him inside. His euphoria was short lived as the instant she felt his liquified passion fill the sanctuary he worshiped she bit down, hard.

Had Sesshoumaru been fully able to comprehend what was going on beyond what he felt, he would have been euphoric. Marking in such a manner was the completion of a true mating, and while he had always expected it to occur in a different manner, the point was the connection that would result no matter how had done the marking.

The painful feel of her toxins flooding his body followed by the deluge of her youki filling his soul, sweeping his own under it, left Sesshoumaru too mindless to even voice his agony. Or his surprise. If he were rational he might question what had happened, why it had hurt so much, or even if it really were his pain he felt. Her poison should not have hurt him so, he had his own so he had a high tolerance for them. His own youki had not fought against hers even as it invaded him so unexpectedly, so there should not have been such pain. And really, she had been rather gentle about it. But even before it was over he was already unconscious and beyond the ability to ponder the last possibility.

Akemi gazed down upon her new male, new in that he truly was hers and hers alone. She must have gone crazy. She was Feral and only a deranged Feral would even want to keep a male for their very own. But now he could not leave her even if he wanted to, not for long anyway. He could not seek another female for anything close to what he usually wanted from her. Which really showed how daft this last action had been. Now she would have to see to him when he wanted her that way.

Not that she really minded, it's just that she'd made it so that he couldn't find alpha in anyone else, ever. So when she died, he would follow. It had not been what she'd desired, Akemi was not so possessive. She wished those she met here would live prosperously beyond her imminent demise. Unfortunately, in this case, she may well have shortened his life span significantly.

With a sigh, Akemi studied her inu mate. He'd seemed surprised to suffer pain in that last instant before falling mercifully from wakefulness and she pondered why that would be. She couldn't remember doing anything that would cause him such pain, and though her youki was more powerful than his, it wasn't that much more so, and he hadn't fought it. Perhaps as Feral she was always in a constant amount of pain that had been transferred to him in that moment. Perhaps it was this pain that he'd felt and it had overwhelmed him. Akemi knew that she had a high tolerance for injury and pain. Perhaps his was simply not equal to hers.

In which case she would strive to shield him from it.

Slowly his body softened enough for her relaxing body to separate from their joining. What she could sense from him told her he would be resting for some time and she had some work to do for her pack beyond him.

Akemi got up and dressed herself in the clothes she had arrived in before bending to wrap him securely in the blanket he had stolen from Morenda's nest. Studying him briefly she decided it would not be enough and added a second blanket before moving a significant amount of furniture in front of the door.

Deciding he would be secure enough for the moment, Akemi made her exit via the broken window and headed out onto the lawn to stall the Lynch mob her delinquent pack had formed before their behavior got completely out of hand. She simply had to handle that before something permanent occurred, but after she did that, she'd be back up there to watch over her new mate and see what she could do to protect him from her Feral state of being. He didn't need to feel her regular state of being if it hurt him so much. He was liable to react badly when he figured out that it was a normal thing for her.

And while she was watching him, she could ponder how she'd instinctually sought a bond that wasn't even known to most Ferals and that she'd only slightly remembered with the coming of these repressed memories and the half understood explanations given by her pack.


	29. Ch 28 To Be Alpha

Ugh, I got myself a cold...Then again, it could just be my body trying to heal my massive sunburn on depleted resources.

It's been a rough weekend. With work stress, no sleep and this awful sunburn, it's no wonder I caught a cold. And even the company of my second family wasn't enough to make it all better.

Oh well, I'm done talking about it. I want to forget all of it and get back to feeling human.

I wonder if Rumiko Takahashi had days like this?

**T****o Be Alpha**

"Enough!" Akemi growled as soon as she found the few members of her pack that had been brave enough and angry enough to step out and punish the neko youkai as Morenda had demonstrated he deserved. The sound far more ferocious and fearsome than the loudest, angriest yell. No member of the Broken pack, no matter how enraged they grew, would ever compare to a Feral growl unless they became Feral themselves.

Akemi was not impressed by the efforts of the other females.

The Feral saw no purpose in allowing others to torment the Eastern heir on her behalf when she, herself, had no urge to do so at all. If anyone should pound the neko for a slight delivered unto Akemi, it should darn well be Akemi doling it out. As a feral, she was fully capable of doing a great deal more damage than any member of the Broken Pack.

Unless death was their goal.

In which case, Akemi definitely did not approve. Killing anything you weren't going to eat was pure folly, and wholly unnecessary so long as physical survival remained unthreatened. That Horace was already on the ground and bloodied, spoke of the incomprehensible emotional motivations of her pack.

Most of the Broken Pack was incredibly reticent about acting in even a slightly aggressive way. They, the most resilient of them, would talk big, but most would not move to strike out, they wouldn't even threaten to do so. That so many had gathered and actually landed blows on the neko did not bode well for the feline youkai nor the mental stability of Morenda and her cohorts.

All of which Akemi would have to look into later. Right now she was too busy glaring them into backing off. They had already done more then enough.

The others sulked and slunk back towards the building they had come from, clearly not fully understanding why they had been called off, but willing to retreat at Akemi's direction.

The alpha shifted to insure that none of them met with her back.

She did not care if they went or if they stayed so long as they simply stopped walloping on the neko. Morenda was the last to disappear into the house, her gaze was confused and troubled as she glanced back over her shoulder and Akemi took note of it, like she did everything.

The Feral turned back to the bruised and bleeding neko and let loose a sigh.

What was with these fools society raised? Did they always have to make things worse before they could realize there was a problem?

Akemi crouched down before sticking her foot out to nudge the neko firmly.

Horace reared back and snarled at her angrily before wincing as the action tugged at the various shallow wounds and bruised skin.

She had warned him multiple times that what he was doing was wrong. Akemi fully understood what he wanted. She likewise understood that Morenda wanted to be with him almost as much as she wanted to run away from him in terror. The two wishes could be resolved positively if the fool male could behave like a real alpha and care for the needs, and fears, of the female he wanted.

Somebody somewhere had done a poor job of raising him and she was slowly coming to learn that most of the non-ferals in the world were incapable of taking an obvious hint and applying it. So she was going to have to be incredibly blunt.

"Now will you listen?" Akemi asked the defensive neko brusquely. This was his last chance, even if he didn't know about it. Horace had failed to accept any of her advice since they began this ridiculous dance, if he did so again, she would have to bar him from the house completely.

Akemi couldn't afford to give Morenda anymore of her personal attention right now. With the way Horace muddled things up, the kuroneko had required more than her fair share already. Akemi would supply the Morenda what attention she needed, and gladly, but to continue to do so in the face of such an impossible problem was unfair to the others of the pack. Others who needed her just as badly and whose males had greater chance of being successful.

Horace remained silent and sullen, but did not fail to give the impression of listening to whatever she would say next.

"You are the reason you have not been cleared to court my pack," Akemi told him bluntly. "She fears you." The Feral inu growled away his attempt to interrupt. "You demand things that distress her and never once bother to adjust your behavior to compensate for her anxiety."

The neko sat stunned, "I don't..." he trailed off, failing to finish the thought.

"You demand she submit to you," Akemi continued regardless of his unformed thought. "She cannot."

"What?"

"She cannot submit," Akemi repeated. "It is a physical hurt that you even ask it of her. She is alpha, as much as you, but she has been a repressed alpha. She stood against submission regardless of pain, torment, and abuse so long she is now incapable of submitting as you wish her to."

"But she submits to you," Horace protested. "Just now, she did."

Akemi sniffed at his stupidity. "I demanded nothing. That was not submission, not really. They chose me as alpha because I will not demand anything of them." Akemi stared over her shoulder at the house. "I bid them stop and they stopped because they decided I was right, or they chose to take my advice. I did not order them into the house. I did not force them to leave. Not like you seem to think I should have."

"The two males cleared for courting proved to be capable of adapting to the needs of their chosen females. One refuses to do anything unless his female expresses her wishes about his actions, proving that he would never suffocate her by keeping her helplessly and thoughtlessly submissive. The other's chosen female was one of the alphas. He was alpha enough himself to realize that she needed him to submit to her slightly to make her comfortable in his presence, knowing that she finds it very difficult to submit at all." Akemi explained to the fool on the lawn as she had never bothered to explain to any other. "Sometimes being alpha means to submit to the pack when the need arises." She turned her sharpened red gaze at the neko in the grass. "The kuroneko as she is now, could never submit to you. She hold no trust in you," the feral pointed out. "And your continual demand for her to roll over and just place herself in your care is not going to help build that trust."

"I-"

"You have to bend before she breaks," Akemi added with a growl. "and you have to demonstrate your ability and intention to do so before you will have the privilege of courting my pack sister privately."

"How do you know all that?" Horace wondered aloud. "Ferals lose all memory when they turn."

Akemi snorted at him, "Memory does not just evaporate in thin air like water from a puddle. It can hide underground, buried and untapped for long and long. But it can be retrieved and called to the surface by outside elements, such as words..."

Horace blinked, "I triggered this?"

"That is what the pack would believe," Akemi shrugged.

"So they attacked me because -"

"They believe you triggered the memories they themselves wish they could forget." the Feral confirmed mildly.

"Did I?"

Akemi blinked at him. "What I remember is no fault of yours. The memories are there because they happened, whether I consciously recall them or repress them, they are still there. The lessons I learned from them remain. The scars cannot disappear from my skin if I do not recollect how they were created."

"Scars?" Horace asked in surprise. It took quite a bit for a youkai to scar.

"Much the same as many of the others have," Akemi tilted her head at him. She lifted her arm and drew back the sleeve of her over sized shirt. Her fore arm was a mess of pocked and pale scar tissue. "They broke my arm many times, intentionally for reasons that no longer make sense to me. My hair used to be silver, I remember, now it is the color of my own left over blood."

"The others suffered much the same," Akemi concluded. "Did you think my pack held itself apart for no reason?"

"I..." Horace opened his mouth before completing his thought once again. "It wasn't real to me. Not before. I thought you were just..."

"Just an unreasoning monster," Akemi finished for him. "An unthinking beast who refused to see your place." She smirked at him, "I have come to find that non-ferals generally believe such nonsense in place of learning the truth of the matter. I was in your way, that was all you cared to see." Akemi rose to her feet and paused as the ground momentarily seemed to continue falling away after she came to a stop. "Go away today and ponder what you have learned. She does want to be with you, but she fears you. If you want to get her past her fear you have to figure out how to make her comfortable."

"Is that the same problem as the others have?" Horace questioned her as he too rose to his feet.

"Some," Akemi nodded. "Will you tell them? They, many of them, seem to have your trouble accepting a gentle hint though they are not quite as hopeless as you were."

The neko flushed with embarrassment before he nodded. "I might."

"Good." Akemi sighed. "I think I may have to bar visitors for the rest of today. They have had a bit too much excitement already." The Broken Pack could only stand so much exposure to outsiders at any given time and strenuously emotional incidents such as this one generally cut their tolerance rather short.

Horace chuckled mirthlessly, fully capable of seeing her point despite his being the creator and instigator of such excitement.

"You will tend to yourself?" the Feral asked of him. If he needed aid she would see about sending the Kagome out to him, but only if she had to. Her energy was running low after the events of the morning and she wouldn't be able to spare much of it to see to the pack. That left only Kagome to calm and soothe the feelings of today.

"Yeah," Horace confirmed, a little amused at the way she'd chosen to convey her concern. "Leave Kagome to the pack, I can manage my own way home."

Akemi nodded sharply in acknowledgment, watching the usually graceful neko stumble a bit as he took his first steps away from the mansion before settling into a steady, limping walk. She watched him for a time before turning back to the house her pack had taken over. She had to pause as the world around her continued to turn after she came to a stop before she could walk in the opposite direction of the departing neko.

The miko Kagome greeted her at the door with concern visible on her face. "What was that all about?"

Akemi sighed wearily, "He finally did something that broke Morenda's control." Kagome would know what she was talking about.

Morenda had evinced signs of lashing out when Horace got too pushy and close before.

"How did he get in?" Kagome wondered aloud.

"He was waiting for the shield to come down and made for Morenda before we knew he was there," Akemi answered. "It is all right now. I've given him this last chance to adjust his behavior and approach." Kagome sniffed disapprovingly, obviously unwilling to give him that much herself. But then, she'd been dealing with the neko longer than Akemi had. "It amazes me how non-ferals need to have everything explained to them in detail."

"You mean he didn't know he was the reason Morenda was always so nervous around him?" Kagome blinked in surprise.

"It is a common failing in most of the males that come here." Akemi shrugged before a momentary weakness caused her to fall back against the wall behind her.

"Akemi!" Kagome gasped in concern.

"I am fine," the feral assured her companion before her panic could draw too much attention from the slowly rousing house around them. "Just a little weary. I need something to eat before I return to my beta."

Kagome blinked, "Where is Sesshoumaru?" usually you never saw Akemi anywhere with out the silver inu right at her heels.

"Upstairs in Morenda's den," Akemi answered as she and the miko made a beeline for the kitchen. Kagome was the last person to delay feeding a pregnant female of any species. "And I need to get back up to him soon." Very soon actually, if the sudden half remembered memory were correct, she shouldn't be so far from him in the first place. The feral felt like sighing again. This mating business was turning out more complicated than it had originally seemed. "No more visitors today. There has been enough excitement already."

Kagome simply nodded as she found Akemi something to eat.

Akemi accepted the food and immediately walked out of the kitchen and back outside to climb up to Morenda's broken window. Leaping from the ground would have been quicker, but her aim wasn't likely to be accurate in the state she was already in.

After quickly ingesting her meal, Akemi dug her claws into the side of the building and began the tedious climb up the wall below the jagged opening of the splintered window. She could only hope her ignorance had not caused her new male any harm when she'd left him.


	30. Ch 29 Slumber's Fall

Sorry, it's a bit late. I just finished it so I couldn't have posted it any sooner.

There's not much happening in this chapter except Sesshoumaru's reaction to being leg-shackled. Which is of course, fairly positive. He is rather a one woman type of guy, at least in this fic. Rumiko Takahashi herself never established what type of guy he was and I've read enough stories to see him depicted as being either exceedingly monogamous or the worst sort of playboy. I tend to stick him as a monogamous sort. Serious people always come off that way with me.

Mainly because they think too much to successfully play around. call me crazy, but that's usually how it goes.

**Slumber's Fall**

Sesshoumaru came awake in small, fragmented increments. A half identified scent here, a partial realization of warmth there, and a whole slew of disjointed sensations that added up to a picture of his reality beyond slumber that made terribly little sense under the soporific spell of contented exhaustion and a new influx of security such as he had never felt before, or at least not since he was a very small pup. And his brain was relaxed enough that the confounding information flooding his unconscious mind caused no amount of alarm.

Eventually, such moments of profound peace have to end and Sesshoumaru realized that despite feeling comfortably warm to the point where it was almost impossible to discern the end of himself and the beginning of all beyond, the air around his cocoon of comfortable ease was decidedly cooler to the point where exposure to it would be uncomfortable. More than that, it appeared to be moving in a decided direction from his left to his right in a slow creeping fashion similar to a draft but a great deal more pronounced. It indicated to his slowly awakening thoughts that while he was not outside, there had to be a considerable whole in the walls of his as yet unidentified shelter.

Next he came to realize that the majority of the warmth that wrapped around him was produced by a weight settled directly upon his torso. He's breathing was not constricted by this heated oppression laying upon him, but it did rather confuse him as to how it got there while Sesshoumaru was asleep.

Being the Taishou heir had fine tuned his senses to the point that even his father's paid servants entering his rooms to do their jobs would wake him instantly. When he'd moved to sleeping on site while building the house for Akemi, he'd gotten a bit more edgy about being viewed in his sleep.

In the wilds, he hadn't slept deeply at all, always hovering in a bit of a trance half between sleeping and waking, sitting upright because his biggest fear then had been the possibility of seeing Akemi and not being awake to follow after her given the opportunity.

When he'd been ill, Akemi had watched over him, and only in Akemi's presence could he sleep soundly even while she remained awake because he trusted her implicitly. Because Akemi soothed him in such a way that he could completely relax, Feral or not.

The next thing he noticed, with his eyes still closed, was a small amount of light in the room beyond his warm pocket. It wasn't irregular like the flame light Akemi used in her den back in the wild and it wasn't particularly bright like the electric lights he never could get his alpha to use. Rather it was just slightly dim, like sunshine sneaking in through cracks in the curtain or simply bouncing in from the shady side of a building.

It was, in and of itself, nothing to be alarmed about. Except, Sesshoumaru never slept late enough in the day for such light to filter into his sleeping room back at the house.

Which told him two things, one that he wasn't in the house he'd built for his alpha and two, that something incredibly strange was going on with him and his health otherwise Sesshoumaru would be awake and aware of what all was going on.

That thought sent Sesshoumaru filtering through his recent memories to find the one that would explain his current state.

It was not a quick flick of slides flitting across his mind's view. Like everything else about this particular awakening, his memories moved passed in a slightly sluggish stream that left him somewhat impatient to find his answer.

Perhaps it was this seeming mental lethargy that roused him to alertness so suddenly. Sesshoumaru had never before had to wait on his own mind to supply answers.

The nature of a predator, a successful one anyway, required a swiftness about them, speed in motion, action and thought – especially thought. The inu by nature had always had these qualities, being civilized had simply warped the natural ability to other uses, but Sesshoumaru had always been a quick thinker, even when he was ill or half asleep. Hell, even in his dreams, he'd been able to identify and solve problems efficiently. It was almost impossible to accept his momentary torpid thought processes.

So Sesshoumaru came awake, still uncertain as to why he was sleeping in the middle of the day and without fully identifying the larger picture of what all the little details so far communicated to him through the various senses used thus far.

Only to have his rush to alertness repaid with a dramatic start when his amber eyes instantly flashed open to find a pair of red ones staring rather intently back at him from an incredibly small distance. Sesshoumaru couldn't say when the last time he'd woken to someone that close to him before. It was extremely unsettling.

And there was no way to know just how long his Feral alpha had been propped up on his chest, peering steadily upon his slumbering face. Akemi was a bit strange that way.

Sesshoumaru got the feeling her perusal had a purpose wrapped in a strange sort of concern like she was certain he'd suffered some injury. Which confused him even more thoroughly than the possible reasons for his napping the day away and still being unable to remember exactly what had lead to this moment. But he did now, he wasn't hurt. At least he didn't feel any pain or discomfort besides the minor pressure of her weight on top of him.

"You are well?" she demanded of him as she continued to study his eyes for what – he hadn't a clue.

He blinked at her briefly, wondering at her strange behavior, "I am unhurt." Sesshoumaru had hoped to reassure her, too much needless worry couldn't be good for the pups, and truly, he felt fine. Despite the strange inability to find the answers he sought in his own mind, he was fully functional.

"You are certain?" Akemi sat up a little, bringing one of her clawed hands up to brush some errant hair from his face. His confusion bothered her a bit, but she couldn't be certain of what caused it. Sesshoumaru could simply be recovering from that moment before he'd passed out earlier, confused as to why it had happened at all. Or he could have lost the memory of it completely, similar to what happened to Ferals, repressing that which was too painful to deal with.

She rather hoped it was one or the other of those reasons. The third possibility could be a direct result of her recklessly abandoning him for that brief span of time immediately after claiming him as her own. If he was damaged, she would care for him still, the male was hers until she died after all. She'd just prefer not to start this mating by damaging her mate.

Besides, what sort of alpha did such a thing anyway?

What was she looking for? Sesshoumaru stared back at the female lounging over him. Then he felt something strange.

It wasn't particularly alarming or even very noticeable, just a slight fluttering under his skin of something rifling through him for injury. He'd never felt it before. It was light and somewhat comforting in a disconnectedly strange sort of way.

Akemi shifted over him again and the fluttering altered itself seemingly to reflect her new position and Sesshoumaru quickly identified it. More than that he remembered what would case such a phenomenon.

Akemi had claimed him, mated him and poured her youki inside him until he was full of it and her scent which he now realized he could taste in the air closest to him, strong and fresh. She'd marked him with scent and power and, if he remembered correctly, fang as well.

She'd claimed him, and in the claiming tied them together so tightly he would be able to feel her under his skin, joy and sorrow, for him to identify and feel and vice versa.

More than that, it was permanent. He was hers and she was his and each belonged to each other until death parted them however briefly.

The instant this remembrance hit him Sesshoumaru practically pounced on her, knocking her back off him until she lay unevenly propped up where her head hit the edge of Morenda's bed with him hovering above her determined to make his first demand as a mated male.

The fact that Akemi was the official dominant meant nothing. He could be an aggressor and instigator now without fear of serious repercussions. She couldn't leave him or tell him to leave her now. Not like she could before, and he didn't have to worry about her ever fearing his advances because she could feel his intentions.

He was a bit startled to find just how exposed his move had made him. Sesshoumaru had been unaware of his state of undress wrapped as he'd been in blankets that kept him comfortably warm before. His actions to engage his new mate in a spontaneous tryst had revealed his bare skin to the merciless touch of the frigid air that was even now fingering passed the covering his alpha had attempted to block out the worst of it with.

"Tch," Akemi sucked her teeth at the aroused male set on sinking under her clothing and skin. This would be the first time he would be conscious of being in charge of their intimacies. She wouldn't have minded him starting such things before, as he had done so in that first joining back in her den. Still it wouldn't do to have him thinking he could jump her at any moment. "Males."

As the Feral had told her male the first day in his den, he never failed to surprise her with pleasure when she'd expected nothing but pain. And the times since then where they had repeated the actions he claimed to enjoy so much, she had been the one to lead him into it. Reacting to his squirming attempts to ignore his own desires, she'd lead him into the physical joinings every time. Now perhaps she had finally laid to rest his insecurities about such things.

Sesshoumaru smirked as he nuzzled under her chin, paying his respects to his alpha before beginning to carefully remove various articles of her borrowed clothing. He intended to explore the pleasures of her body a great deal more thoroughly than she'd ever encouraged him to before. He wanted to look and see and touch and taste every available inch of his female until he was blind with need and desire.

Then he wanted to plunder the depths of her being to discover everything he'd been too cautious of touching on before the only thing to hold him back was a consideration of safety and health for the pups she carried. His pups. Life he put there. That she chose him to put there.

That was the true joy.

Akemi chose him, to keep him, to want him. She knew nothing of the false traits his father had forced him to display and the empty honors he'd been forced to accept and uphold. She cared nothing for the position society forced upon him and then hunted him for the fringe benefit of being associated with.

She simply wanted him, Sesshoumaru, male inu and beta who wanted her and no other. She required nothing more than him and that was a euphoric inducing drug all on its own.

But all that was for later, right now, he had a mate to worship with tongue and lip, body and soul. Thinking and pondering was for later, when celebration over receiving his fondest dreams made reality was over.

Sesshoumaru had all but given up on mating Akemi after all...


	31. Ch 30 Deviation

Terribly sorry about the long absence, but you see I did warn you that posting would be irregular based on what I could manage to write and type up. After the last chapter turned out the way it did, I decided I had to wait until inspiration struck because drabble like that simply wasn't acceptable to me. I abhor bad fanfiction and refuse to come any closer to such a sin. Or rather, that kind of fluff is rather pointless and I was stuck anyway.

This semi-writer's block is not totally cured, so don't go expecting anything amazing here, just decent despite wrestling into submission for the last two weeks. And there still won't be a regular posting either. Although, I hope to keep my absences a bit shorter from now on, but no promises.

We can't all be as regular and able to meet our deadlines as the great Rumiko Takahashi. I don't mean to keep you hanging but as I said way back in the beginning and even before I started posting that this particular fic is giving me trouble. It's simply the nature of this particular beast.

**Deviation**

He growled restlessly as he pondered the strange solid substance that passed for earth outside of the woods.

Every Feral knew the world beyond the trees was the world of death and pain. Why else would youkai take refuge in the precarious safety of the wilds? The place where death came for the unwary on the wings of nearly every action that met with bad luck.

In the beginning, it was the cold that attacked a body first if sufficient shelter couldn't be found before the coming of the dormant season. Then hunger ate into the unsuccessful hunter, whether due to actual shortage of prey or simple lack of skill was unimportant. Death was death, only that particular death was a lot slower than death by exposure. Then came the dangers of the other youkai hiding in the brush, some were fearsome predators in their own right, the wild youkai, better at being effective hunters having learned all they needed to know to survive the harsh realities of the wilds from birth.

But worse than the wild youkai, were the other Ferals because all Ferals were, by definition, desperate to survive. Every fool under the sun, inside the wilds and out, knew that the trapped animal whether predator or prey was at their most fierce when trapped and desperate. It was then that the most unpredictable actions were taken.

He had learned all of this early into his life in the forest.

It was the residual reactions of his experiences before the wild that helped him to survive. The strong survive and the weak had better get out of the way of evolution. It was natural selection in an exceptionally proactive way. After all, the Feral way of the wild was to either kill or be killed. And he quickly became a very efficient killer.

It wasn't needlessly down of course. Sort of a fleecing of the flock, killing of the weaker, less necessary members to better support the strength of the greater pack. It was a responsible thing to do so that the ones to survive are the much stronger, better fed, and more skilled.

The forest could only support so many at any given time. An overabundance of one sort of organism only sent the delicately balanced habitat off kilter, bringing the more sophisticated and traumatic death. Maintaining smaller numbers prevented that from happening.

It was natural, a system of checks and balances. Just so many herbivores to keep from denuding and crippling the necessary plant life in wilds. Just so many predators to keep the herbivore population within bounds, etc. Too many predators and they all starved as they wiped out whole populations of prey. Too many leaf eaters and all would starve as there was just so much food to go around. Too much green growth and the whole system crashed down as the plants sickened from a lack of adequate light or root space.

He, being youkai, was able to identify all this and reason it all out in the way that lower creatures could not.

Some of the other Ferals failed to fully comprehend and therefore appreciate their place in the wild, proving themselves to be of inferior intellect and prime for the type of fleecing he was best at. Further proof of their lesser makeup arose when they failed to kill him when he went to restore the proper balance. Therefore, he killed them. Simple.

He, of course, started with the males as males were less important in a pack than any female. A male could only offer his flawed genes if he were weak, whereas a female could create life to replace and repopulate a pack as needed, whether her proffered genes were flawed or not.

Once he proved his strength and cunning as the best and strongest in the wild, he went about repopulating his pack with the proper sort of youkai. This of course required he search out a proper female.

Some of the first females he found he took without regard to their strength and intelligence. His opinion of females then had been that any would do as well as any other. He soon learned that this was not true.

The resulting young of what few females conceived and birthed were weak, worthless things. They died and there was no point to offspring that didn't survive. So he learned to fight the females hoping that the one strong enough to survive the violence would birth stronger pups. All attempts had thus far failed.

The last attempt might have work had the female in question not died from a repeat performance.

This time he had looked for more than just strength.

This female had shown a great deal of intellect and skill in eluding him.

The first time he had hunted her, he'd had a hell of a time locating even the faintest wisps of her passing through the shadowed paths of the forest in her hunting. She was so good at hiding simply everything from his senses. But the clues were there if you looked hard enough. And he _had_ looked very hard for them. And he'd slowly begun to close in on his prize only to find something about him had alerted her.

Like every female before her, she'd bolted.

Unlike every female before her, she'd lead him a merry chase right into the face of the miko phantom, walking death.

The pain of that encounter had been excruciating and taken months to adequately heal. So he'd used the interim to find a different female a bit older than the one he hunted now. The one that had been his short-lived success.

So he'd swung back to hunting this clever female.

Hunting her while she hunted prey was a very special irony he greatly relished. Being Feral did not keep him from grasping the more complex strangeness of the world. He was a reasoning beast after all.

Slowly he gained ground locating her. Each day he would come a little closer to catching her. And he'd begun to notice things that were different about her from his previous attempt at winning her.

The game she hunted had grown in size and number. Where before she had hunted rabbits and small animals that were plentiful and less likely to draw in a great deal of attention at the culmination of her hunt, she now hunting the bigger prey, such as deer. And she did so at a faster rate than she could ever eat on her own. He had convinced himself, temporarily, that the game was already up; that she had sensed him. Unlike before, where she had managed to effectively evade his pursuit, he was certain she knew there was no chance of that now. And thus she planned accordingly. He'd thought she was preparing for when he actually caught up to her. She had to know what the near future would hold for her after he did. Survival and a desire for continuity were an ingrained trait of every Feral that had ever been.

He'd even gone out of his way to help her out, award her efforts with an added gift that day she'd taken down both an old buck and the tusked sow. She'd left behind the piglets, so he'd slaughtered them for her. They wouldn't survive anyhow and the meat would be tenderer than anything else she'd brought down all season.

It was meant as a courting gift, sort of.

He'd also believed that the blood the panicked boar had spilled in defense of its den before the female had taken it down would lead him directly to his prize. It didn't lead him any further than the river, unfortunately. But it did inform him that his bitch was keeping company with some other youkai.

Initially he'd dismissed this extra presence. Feral females occasionally took in the new feral females to the area, teaching them what they needed to survive and such. If this was the case, tracking his female might award him with an extra bitch at the end of his hunt.

Not that he needed more than one at a time. But he certainly wasn't fool enough to deny the use of such a windfall.

He had been wrong. As he discovered not long after leaving her his gift.

She had remained holed up in her den healing as he'd expected leaving him little opportunity to grow closer to ascertaining the location of it. He did not expect her to stay in long though as any prolonged period of timed from the hunt dulled the edge on the necessary senses.

That and she still had more stockpiling to do. Obviously.

What he had not expected when she finally did emerge from the seclusion of her still hidden den was for her to head in the opposite direction of the more bountiful hunting grounds.

In the wild, the prime hunting grounds shifted with the seasons and local hunting habits. In one year the game might be more plentiful in one area than the other and so, in order to properly manage future hunting needs, all the predators focused on that particular part of the territory for its greater ability to support it thus making it another territory they hunted in the future. It was simple resource management. Just like repopulating his pack.

It was strange that such an old Feral would ignore such a simple rule. She knew better and had little time or energy to waste in fruitless hunts, which is what she would suffer in that part of the forest.

It had seemed a curiously pointless waste of time on the part of such a cunningly intelligent female. Or perhaps the Feral female had lost her senses (since she was already insane by definition). Either way, he had to investigate. The bitch was still a viable contender to produce his offspring, she had been intelligent before losing the last of her marbles and strong too. Perhaps this was simply the last stage of the Feral insanity, the stage that ultimately lead to their demise. It was no secret that no Feral survived longer than about ten full season cycles. Few lived even that long.

If it was he needed to know, as obviously, he being Feral would someday suffer through it as well.

In his haste to discover what she was about, she'd detected him and gone on high alert.

He hoped to out wait her wariness so that he could follow her back to the den, but she was too wily for that.

Eventually his patience gave out and he'd moved closer to inspect the youkai she kept company with and been enraged to find a male. A male that wasn't even Feral. A male his chosen female had pressed protectively to the ground beneath her proving that this non-Feral, this _other _was not strong.

What was she about? What could she possibly want with such a weak male when she could have him? He'd demanded answers and been insulted instead. The bitch believed she had a choice in this hunt, that he cared whether she understood or even wanted the honor he would bestow upon her.

It was not to be tolerated!

Obviously the situation required correction and as he wasn't so foolish as to direct all his anger at the female whose den he had no yet located, he focused on removing the fly in his proverbial ointment.

Unfortunately his cunning little female was equally as adept at running interference as she was at evading his detection. Her skill and effectiveness maddened him to the point he discarded all caution and swung full-force at the first half decent opening on his fleeing non-feral rival and instead ripped into the prized female. Worse, he'd knocked her into the river above a series of drops and falls.

With disappointment painting his thoughts he watched as she dipped over the first set, slipping deep under the surface before failing to come back up.

His thoughts had been full of monumental frustration. Years of stalking gone to waste in the space of mere moments.

But death had final word in the wilds, and all evidence suggested death had snatched the Feral female and her pet non-Feral from his grasp just at the culmination of the hunt.

He's written it off as a lost cause and gone hunting for regular game instead. There would eventually be new Feral arrivals, female and male, and he could continue his work managing the Feral population.

That is, until he'd sensed a spike of youki easily identified as belonging to his Feral bitch.

Occasionally, through the seasons, he would sense her youki as the bounds that held it secret were loosened by a slip in control and such. He could never detect an actual direction from it because it was so terribly large a beacon and terribly difficult to detect a specific direction as its source. Like being unable to see the center of a forest due to standing too close to a tree, or like a bug next to a leaf being unable to detect the exact location of the tree trunk. But this was a vast deal stronger and a great deal farther away.

His Feral female had survive her injury and the drowning clutches of the river. More than that, she escaped the environs of the forest and the hunt was definitely back on. Even if he had to traverse through the non-Feral world he would achieve his goal, and woe unto the foolish non-Feral to get in his way.

But first, he had to decide just what this strange hardness covering the ground was for and whether it was capable of leaping up to harm him in mid-leap when he jumped over it...


	32. Ch 31 Substitute

Whew, the holidays are wiping me out.

I thought I'd post this a little early considering a don't exactly have a set schedule any more...and I'm going out of town this weekend. I should actually be asleep already so I can leave bright and early to take care of things before leaving. ^^; but I just couldn't let this go while I actually had an idea of how to write it. I've actually been trying to write this since I uploaded my last chapter. but that was Thanksgiving week which was a big distraction in and of itself. And another big holiday is coming up which is already invading my time. Plus work is asking for people to come in on the weekend like its mandatory. I'm not volunteering until it is mandatory, I don't need the hours and other people do.

We get back to Sesshoumaru in this chapter to see what all has been going on since the marvelous mating. All is not well in Denmark, but since when has anything ever gone peaches and cream with me writing? It's the annoyances and hardships that make things interesting. Besides there are too many demands on Akemi to make Sesshoumaru absolutely happy. You just know he wants her all to himself, forever and a day.

I don't know if Rumiko Takahashi viewed him as particularly possessive or simply really selfish. Everybody has their moments, some more overtly than others.

Here's a new chapter for you. Hope you enjoy it.

**Substitute**

Sesshoumaru glared coolly into the milling crowd of youkai males that were supposed to be learning something from him. He allowed his resentment of the situation to simmer just below the surface for the first time. Normally, when it came to filling for Akemi's duties to the Broken Pack, he didn't allow it to rise, curtailing the negative feelings because he was happy to aid his alpha in any way and since she could no longer fulfill this obligation, that was what he was doing. Trying to do...

After Horace had finally learned the lesson that his own behavior was working against him and reached the conclusion that he really didn't know how to modify it in such a way to ease his Morenda's distress, the Eastern had figured that others probably found themselves in the same boat. They were products of society, and according to Akemi, this was a major problem.

So the neko had suggested creating a class with the Feral to teach all the suitors of her pack to better accommodate the needs of their individual desired females. As if Akemi wasn't already stretched too thin.

The Broken Pack needed personal attention from Akemi, over fifty members to divide up her day among, and no time to rest or take it easy as a breeding female should. But Akemi took up this extra duty without complaint, not fully understanding what a "class" actually was, but comprehending that she was to teach them about the needs of her pack.

And then, these males, begging for her to fix their problems had shown her blatant disrespect and disregard for everything she attempted to impart that was decidedly against what they had learned as young watching the interactions of their parents and other adults. All of them completely refused to consider that the relationships they had witnessed previously had not been influenced by the abuse the females of the Broken Pack had suffered. And not one realized that of all the youkai gathered for these classes, only Akemi had been chosen as primary alpha, meaning her judgment of outsiders was trusted above any others.

Akemi hadn't seemed to understand the disrespect. Nor did appearance suggest she was any more frustrated by the deliberate rejection of the lessons she taught. Her time in the wilds had muted all overt expressions of emotion as society comprehended it.

That didn't mean she wasn't affected as Sesshoumaru well knew.

Mating, regardless of which partner did the marking, created an emotional bond between two youkai; he could always identify her stronger emotions and general mood. The closer he physically was to the female the more pronounced they became until, at after the ultimate culmination of intimacy he could all but read her thoughts.

So he knew the unwillingness of these males to learn distressed her.

And so, too, did her doctor know it. Akemi couldn't hide the side effects of her duties from the physician assigned to oversee the Feral's pregnancy.

At around the third appointment after the advent of these unproductive "classes", Dr. Chorin had prohibited the Feral inu from continuing to administer them personally. Akemi was not allowed to attend a single session.

This put a decided roadblock in the lives of many hopeful males, as there was not another teacher with Akemi's particular store of knowledge. Many of the abused females that called Akemi Alpha would not think to inform their future mating partners as to how best to relate with them, more simply could not. Few could identify what any other member of the Broken Pack would need in a male and fewer still could see clearly the difference between a protective behavior and a suffocatingly oppressive one.

But if they did not find a substitute for Akemi, the female in question would break doctor's orders to fulfill what she perceived as a duty.

This would not do.

Unfortunately, the only youkai of similar understanding as the Feral, was Sesshoumaru. This was unfortunate in that it required he take over the classes rescheduled during Akemi's prenatal appointments instead of going with her. Because of this he'd missed out on the first sonogram with its symphony of heartbeats amplified by the monitors and the grainy moving pictures that visually proved the health of their pups.

And for what?

A bunch of pompous, disrespectful, spoiled males, convinced they didn't have a problem or that their problem would solve itself.

For Akemi, he would do anything. Brave the wilds with no weapon, missing one arm and blinded if she needed him to do so. He would take up the reins of the Taishou clan, no matter how distasteful it was to him, if she but wanted him to do it.

But this...

He found no point in being kept from his alpha, his female, his mate when it achieved no purpose.

And the females of the Broken Pack who were present to back up his attempted lessons were more than willing to support anything he deemed appropriate to the ingrates.

Sesshoumaru well knew his rank in the Broken Pack and it was fine with him. They trusted him implicitly, held him in higher regard than any outsider as the mate of their alpha, and most would probably wait for his explanation before condemning anything he did or didn't do.

So he waited at the front of the room backed by the Broken Pack, patiently waiting for the fools to notice their collective, frigid glare. Sesshoumaru had donned the frigid persona that had been his constant mask as a youth. For all that these youkai were, many of them, alphas and high ranking in their own packs and somewhat in society beyond that, none of them held rank comparable to Western Heir besides Horace. And not a one of those in attendance could claim an accomplishment that Sesshoumaru had achieved by mating a female of the Broken Pack, an honor many of them tried to shrug off and down play by pointing out that the inu male had not initiated it.

And his resentment of their disrespect simmered a bit more.

Sesshoumaru was a great deal more on edge today than he usually was when separated from Akemi since their mating. Their bonding had calmed and all but eliminated his separation anxiety. He still didn't like being away from her, but it didn't hurt like it had before and his fear was usually absent.

Today, it wasn't.

Today Sesshoumaru had cause to fear, not abandonment by his alpha, but for her safety outside the personal properties of the Taishou.

Today the news had reported that protestors had spontaneously cropped up on the doorstep of the very doorstep of Akemi's hospital.

Of course protestors were volatile groups at the best of times. This particular rash of them had started appearing after Akemi's appearance in the High Council Chambers the first day after her arrival in the settled territories. They seemingly didn't agree that a Feral could approach society and not be a threat.

They weren't any more intelligent than any other mob carrying signs shouting their opinions for all to read.

Sesshoumaru gave an internal snort, actually they were a bit more brainless than most other groups, after all, how many clear thinking youkai and humans thought Ferals needed gas? The first time Akemi had seen the strange crowds holding signs along the side of the road and at street corners, she hadn't really understood the purpose of them. Once explained to her sufficiently she'd smirked as she pointed out the fact that few Ferals would drive a car.

They certainly could be amusing, standing their protesting an abstract idea that they'd never met. Sesshoumaru doubted very many of those fools brandishing cardboard stapled to planks of wood had ever actually encountered a Feral. Very few usually survived meeting a provoked, cornered and starving Feral outside of the professional exterminators. And the exterminators refused to associate with any anti-Feral group that organized after Akemi's pardon.

The professionals formed their opinion and policy upon the knowledge of their craft and the reality of who and what Akemi is.

The protestors formed theirs in ignorance, never bothering to think beyond their superstitious fear that Ferals were the boogiemen that lay in wait.

And into that band of misinformed, malcontents went his female with her damning eyes and Feral ways. He should be with her, to protect her.

Instead he was here, babysitting another set of fools altogether.

"Enough," Sesshoumaru growled out, the simmer finally achieving a full boil. "There is no reason to continue this useless effort. You may all flounder and fail to your heart's content." The inu declared magnanimously icy. If he managed to eject all of these fools from the premises he may manage to reach the hospital before the end of Akemi's appointment, thereby winning himself the sound and sight of a sonogram in progress.

"Now hold on there, Sesshoumaru," a particularly obnoxious ookami objected to being summarily dismissed without due cause. "You can't just dismiss-"

"Yes he can," Aramanda interjected pointedly. "He leads this farce of a class, staying here upon your request so that you all can ignore what he says, make absolutely no progress towards your professed goals, and keep us all from more productive aims. When he decides the class is over, it is over and if you have not learned anything it is not his fault. You had your say and each voted unanimously to ignore the warnings." She moved to stand followed by the rest of the females who had volunteered to help.

"Sit back down, we're not done yet," Morita, a kuro kuma, protested firmly.

"Oh you're not?" Sesshoumaru raised his famous eyebrow at the brawny male, one less obnoxious and disrespectful than the others. "You plan to hold this class with no hope of achieving what you set out for?"

"It's not an impossible goal," Horace protested the implication. "Akemi said it was possible. Hell, Krissandra and that other female mated since Akemi's coming and with her blessing."

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru acknowledged. "But neither of them had your problem. And as you have all proven incapable of learning I see no point in wasting our collective time. I have better things to do than to drag you to your salvation against your will."

Gelinda flicked her shortened hair with a condescending smirk, "You jerks had it coming after disrespecting Akemi and her mate so much."

"Indeed," Grace spoke up gently. "They both rank so much higher than a bunch of ignorant fools," the blind kuma could not see the mass of males bristle at her words. "You lack knowledge and refuse to attain it despite our alpha female straining herself to offer it to you."

"Then you disrespect her mate, a male who has accomplished what you proclaim to be your desired goal," Aramanda pointed out combatively. "You are fools."

The Ookami from before growled loudest among the sea of growls, "He is merely a beta. He didn't even mark her-"

"The point is not who marked whom," Sesshoumaru snarled. "It is that there is a bond period." And silence filled the room.

"Do you get it now?" Gelinda snorted patronizingly. "You worry about details like who's the official dominant rather than focusing on simply creating the bond simply to have it."

"But some of the females are so broken, so submissive they could never initiate-" a nameless voice called out.

"Then you build them up, gain their trust so that they can agree to let you do it and _know_ that it was their decision to do so," Grace insisted mildly.

"Because when the decision to allow the mating to go through or not is brought before the pack Alpha, Akemi will ask but one question of the female whether she is the one making the request or being asked for. And only the female can answer it," Kally spoke up, the final pack member present for today. "and she will have to do so without her intended there to speak for her or bully her into saying what he wants."

The silence that reconvened after all was laid out for the throng of fools was thoughtful for once. Now, if only thought could be turned to a change in behavior and action...

Sesshoumaru sighed, so much for dismissing the classes from continued existence. Looks like he was going to miss out on all of Akemi's appointment after all.


	33. Ch 32 Lasting Impressions

Bet you thought I'd died. Well not quite, but I was really distracted through most of December and just completely wrung out last weekend. But I have finished a new Chapter for you.

It amazes me just how many hits I get for this story even when I don't post. Just a sign of how well received a seemingly strange and new idea can be.

But that's enough for now, as we all know the Inuyasha storyline and characters are no new idea of mine, standard disclaimers apply.

**Lasting Impressions**

Kohaku gazed warily through the glass front all Hospitals in his experience seemed to have of the main lobby, and he'd had cause to visit many places of healing in his short life. Being Feral exterminators was a hazardous lifestyle and every member of his extended family had seemingly wound up in need of medical care at some point. One thing all hospitals had universally in common, besides the near overwhelming smell of chemicals and the presence of pills in every nurses station, was the brightly lit lobby facilitated by clear floor to ceiling glass doors and an expanse of green grounds beyond those same seemingly impractical windows.

At this very moment it was the contents of that grass covered ground that had the disabled former exterminator so nervous.

There, deliberately passing a continuous circuit on the frost browned lawn, was a mass of people supposedly protesting the Feral's Pardon.

Had they shown up the day before, he wouldn't feel so anxious. Were they to show up a week from now it would be the same, but today was the day the very Feral they protested would be coming in for a check up and this was a recipe for disaster.

Somehow, he very much doubted if the Feral female would have the chance to talk her way out of trouble if she were to be exposed to that bunch.

"You know, most people go ahead and leave the hospital after finishing with their doctor," a female voice commented from over his shoulder and the "broken slayer" swiftly spun to confront this intruder. "Hovering by the door is a bit unusual, even for you." Crissandra tilted her head to consider Sango's little brother.

All the members of the Broken Pack were familiar with the younger of the famous Tajiya siblings mainly because Sango had been one of the people with Kagome when they were all set free of their torment in the north. They weren't particularly intimate with him, the decided mistrust of all things male on their side and his issues with anything youkai prevented it, but they all knew his history. It was a sign of their high regard for Sango.

"Akemi is expected today," Dr. Chorin murmured as she joined them.

"Wha-"

"She is sometimes escorted by Rin," Dr. Chorin cut the tora off before the obvious question could be finished.

"Ah," Crissandra nodded to herself. It certainly made more sense than the male wanting to actually see the Alpha of the Broken Pack.

"Stop talking about me," Kohaku muttered sullenly at the two females as he turned back to the window. "Try talking about more important things like how the Feral is going to get into the building for her so-called appointment."

"I figured she'd just walk straight through them like any other breeding inu," Crissandra remarked blandly.

"And wind up identified as a Feral by the very people protesting her presence outside of the wilds?" Kohaku snorted.

"You worry too much," Crissandra snorted in her turn. "Who out there could identify a Feral from a particularly annoyed hormonally imbalance breeding female?"

Kohaku blinked, she did have a point. "It's still a bad idea to walk right through them."

"Maybe so, but it's too late to think of another plan," Dr. Chorin commented as she spotted Akemi coming from the parking lot with her entourage and quickly approaching the gathered crowd.

"Oh shit," Kohaku gasped as the group holding their attention attempted to plow through the picket line. Sango was out there, he could see her tensely following after the Feral along with Akemi's constant escort, Morenda.

The former Tajiya attempted to bolt the second the group stopped moving forward only to find his shirt caught in the white knuckled grip of the tora behind him.

"Do not go out there," Crissandra hissed, though it was difficult to tell which of them she was trying to convince more. "Do not rush out there like their group has any need of assistance in getting through a crowd of people protesting the admittance of Ferals in society."

"But-"

"Listen to her," Dr. Chorin cut him off. "If you go out there now it will raise suspicion that the crowd should be doing something Akemi would need protection from. The protesters are probably only giving them a hard time for cutting into the line instead of going around. So far the Feral's group is just like any other group too inconsiderate to go around the lines. She is not the first to do so today, and is hardly likely to be the last." The female OBGYN sighed heavily, over explaining the situation was a sort of coping mechanism she'd developed as a child. "Going to meet them, assist them, or add to what is already a substantial escort for a breeding female would change that since none of the other groups suffered the same unless they were arriving to pick up someone, and then the group would turn right around and head home."

"All right, I get it!" Kohaku grumbled though he remained thoroughly tense at the combination of being in too close contact with an almost Feral youkai inside and his sister exposed to a particularly high threat out front. The former Tajiya glanced back at Dr. Chorin darkly as something occurred to him. "If the situation is so far from being dangerous at this moment, what are you so worried about?" It was quite the anomaly for the Gynecologist to meeting Akemi at the doors like this, as well he knew.

Audrey Chorin shifted her gaze from the window to the closer inquirer to answer his question. "I fear for her blood pressure. It's been riding high as of late due to stress. Whatever else Akemi is, she is still a Feral. A Feral that suffered immense pain at the abuse of other youkai seemingly given permission to do so by those she loved and trusted. Close contact with anyone other than her Beta and mate is stressful for her. As it is for any member of the Broken Pack, but in the case of the Broken Pack, they tend to be able to relax in presence of fellow sufferers. Akemi cannot."

"You forget, Kohaku, that Akemi has every reason to feel uneasy in the presence of every creature in and out of the wild because, under normal circumstances, she would be hunted by all. As she's said before, words mean very little to her. Simply because something has been said does not mean that it makes it so. Words do not define reality. We forget that because we live by them. She does not." The doctor finished and returned her eyes to studying the volatile encounter convening outside the front of the hospital.

Kohaku returned his gaze to the same disaster waiting to happen that had the other two so occupied. "If you're so worried about her blood pressure and stress level, why do you still have her coming here? Couldn't you just have the Taishou get the necessary equipment and have her appointments out at the Manor house where the Broken Pack is?"

"It might be better even for the Broken Pack," Crissandra murmured to herself. "We would love to keep our vulnerabilities to those already in the know."

Dr. Chorin carefully mulled over the suggestion. "It wouldn't be a bad idea. The only reason nothing like that is already in place was due to the lack of an appropriate location. All the members were scattered to foster families after Kagome save them."

"But now most are gathered in the Taishou house to be close to the Alpha," Crissandra pointed out. "And of the rest who aren't currently living there, we always visit often. It would certainly make me feel more comfortable coming to these things."

Kohaku glanced at the two females in confusion. What was there to think about? It would generally be safer all around. The Feral would be kept completely out of the mainstream, keeping mutual exposure to a minimum. If it helped out the Broken Pack, all the better.

"What were you here for today anyway?" Kohaku asked the tora blandly.

"My mate – and I guess I do too – would like to try for cubs," The short-haired blonde answered hesitantly. "Being newly mated, it is sort of expected of us and – well after my relationship with my family failed to recover – we thought it would be nice to build a new family of our own."

"You're breeding already?" The Broken Slayer glanced meaningfully down to the significant region on the female's body. "How can you tell?" The tora had only been mated for a couple weeks, as far as he knew.

"No, I'm not," Crissandra scoffed at him. "But I want to be and thought it would be a good idea to come see if it was safe for me to attempt it."

"And?" Dr. Chorin prompted the female. "What was the prognosis?"

"I-" Crissandra began before pointedly looking away. "It may not even be possible for me to ever have cubs."

"Is that a definite diagnosis? Who did you talk to?" The OBGYN demanded. "Have you told your mate?"

"It sounded certain enough," Crissandra sighed. "I haven't told him yet, I don't know how to tell him."

"Don't tell him yet," Dr. Chorin advised her. "I'll take a look myself to give you a second opinion, and we can always have Akemi give the deciding word. Shikon youkai are said to be able to heal their pack mates of some of the most appalling injuries recorded in history. Though I won't allow her to attempt such a thing until after birthing her own pups." The good doctor sighed wearily, "We'll be lucky if she carries all of them to term at the rate we're going."

"What's taking them so long?" Kohaku grumbled, more than willing to take the conversation off of females and spawn. He was a male with the natural disinclination to discuss the breeding habits of others, particularly those of youkai descent. So it was obvious the subject needed to be changed. He'd personally rather worry about his sister stuck in the middle of an anti-feral crowd escorting the very Feral they were all against. And all forward progress had seemingly ceased.

"That big female appears to have stopped them," Crissandra noted in concern.

"Have you seen them stop anyone else?" Kohaku asked anxiously.

"You're the one that's been watching them longest?" Crissandra replied beginning to pick up on the broken slayer's worry. "You tell us."

The trio watched uneasily as Akemi interacted coolly with the impediment to her path. Dancing on pins and needles, they watched as the crowd seemed to condense, forming a tight circle around the visibly vehement discussion continued, until Akemi apparently said something that threw the obstructing female for a significant loop allowing the Feral to continue her trek through the suddenly stunned crowd.

Kohaku blinked at the two females staring confusedly back at him. "What the hell just happened?" The two did not answer as they were just as lost as he, and equally stuck with waiting to find out.


	34. Ch 33 Lost in Translation

Ta-da! and I bet you thought there would be nothing new up so quick. I didn't either, but then there we go, sometimes the mood strikes unexpectedly and magic happens. There's some sweet interaction between Akemi and Shippou in this chapter...They did get custody of the kit, and Rin too, though she isn't in this chapter.

Just like she doesn't show up in every episode of Rumiko Takahashi's anime where the great Sesshoumaru appears.

On a side note, I'm looking for a job. I am currently employed and despite the fact that when I hired on they took permanent, I have suffered through four new bosses and they're goign to reorganize things so that once again I will get a new boss. The problem is, when they promote people to management in this company they don't look for leadership qualities or decent work ethic so much as general butt kissing skills...and such people turn around and then expect their employees to likewise behave the same way and despite a person's good work ethic, if they don't kiss up they aren't treated well. and I refuse to get by in life by behaving like a sycophantic fool. I stand on my own to feet and get by based on my work. If I make a mistake, I own up to it and when my management team attempted to sneakily question my work integrity just before I took my vacation at Christmas it was beyond the last straw.

I have decided that whether or not I have a job lined up, I will be quitting by the end of February. As I told my coworkers, there comes a time when you have to say "I deserve better." And I do. I'm not the only one jumping ship. there are several others equally fed up with the company way. Seriously they should look into the issues in our little branch of employment because the high turn over rate is more than a simple statistic. It's a symptom of a bigger problem that they've been ignoring for years. This is not the worst work experience I have ever suffered from, Wal-mart was worse, but it is a very close second.

But that's of no moment to you dear readers. And I'd rather it not detract from your enjoyment of the fic, but it is a reason why my posting (and writing) in recent months as been so sporadic. When I am unhappy, frustrated, and stressed out, recreational creativity often takes a back seat to trying to fix a more constant problem.

**Lost in Translation**

Whatever Kohaku had been expecting to see when the Feral's entourage finally walked through the glass doors of the hospital, it did not include seeing his usually straight-laced older sister's eyes shining with suppressed mirth nor the fine trembling of her shoulders the signified a bout of intense laughter. It was just as odd to see the Borderline Morenda in a similar state, considering none of the Broken Pack displayed anything but derisive and self-deprecating humor. But there was honest, all-be-it concealed, hilarity seeping from the pores of the kuroneko.

Whatever Akemi had said out there in the midst of people protesting her position in society, it had obviously been something spectacular to get such a reaction out of Sango, especially when his big sis was working. And Sango, though she considered it an honor to escort the pink inu anywhere, definitely treated her trips with Akemi like she did any other job – with seriousness and caution.

Despite the apparent reaction of the other two, the Feral displayed absolutely no evidence of amusement at the situation. Which told Kohaku a lot.

Over the months and his sparse interactions with the breeding female, he had learned that Akemi very seldom intended insult in any direction and had not once, to his knowledge, taken genuine offense at the behavior of other towards her. And there had been many instances where she could have and probably should have.

But, as she had told him – well her beta while Kohaku was in the room – that first day at the hospital, words truly did mean very little to a Feral. Simply because someone believed a thing did not make it so. If others believed her to be weak, it did not make her weak. If others believed her mindless, that did not remove what intelligence she did have. And if others believed that she cared for their acceptance, well refer to the first two and you would have an answer.

Ferals lived by the way things _were_ as opposed to how they were perceived and accepted only that reality which could not be contested by any of their senses. Or at least Akemi was like that.

So when Akemi kept walking after Sango and Morenda collapsed into helpless gales of laughter a soon as the first corner cut them from the view of the protesting crowd out front. Kohaku really wasn't surprised beyond the fact that Sango was leaning on his shoulder, leaking tears of glee at the as yet undisclosed joke Akemi had apparently made of her detractors.

Dr. Chorin had also been a mite surprised at the merriment displayed by Akemi's escort but hadn't time to stand around to ponder it. So, while Crissandra was diverted by her pack sister helplessly clinging to her for support, all Audrey had done was glance back at them before following after the Feral gently rubbing the back of the young kitsune hanging of the back of one shoulder.

The OBGYN knew well that it was not wise to dally once the pink inu arrived in the building. Akemi's state of being deteriorated markedly the longer she was away from her mate. Her blood pressure began to fluctuate and her muscles grew more tense with each passing moment.

Perhaps there was more than one reason to contemplate Kohaku's somewhat unorthodox suggestion that a clinic like setting be established in one of the many rooms available in the great house Akemi's pack resided in. It was likely the Feral would be a great deal more comfortable in a setting where she was – to some extent – the master of all things. The alpha controlled the influx of traffic from outside the pack very carefully for the care of the Broken Pack, thereby limiting the amount of threat being brought near to her increasingly vulnerable state. It would also cut down on the amount of time she would be separated from her beta and mate.

Truly Dr. Chorin was finding it difficult to find a draw back to the situation besides her having to drive all the way out there to do it. Although, if they established as a clinic for the needs of all the Broken Pack, she might just as well make it a full time position out there Audrey wouldn't mind as it would leave her as the personal physician of her own sister as well. True, it was sort of frowned up for doctors to practice upon their own kin, but it was unavoidable in small towns out in the country so it could be done for the Broken Pack. They didn't trust complete strangers after all.

The good doctor ensconced her patient in the examination room she had waiting before going to retrieve the necessary equipment for the full check up, Dr. Chorin still insisted on performing at every visit.

Akemi carefully attempted to slide up onto the unusual and somewhat tiny table as was expected of her. Shippou pulled his small claws out of the shoulder of the heavy coat she'd been made to wear and attempted to aid her movements, carefully guiding her to lay back on the uncomfortable surface.

He was crowding her a bit, but he had learned, after attending most of her other visits, that she was calmer with contact and since Sesshoumaru couldn't be present, Shippou had taken it upon himself fulfill the older male's roll of keeping her calm. The kit mentally shrugged, he might as well since he couldn't be left with the Broken Pack and had no place in the classes the beta was being forced to oversee as substitute for Akemi. Besides, after living in Akemi's care with Rin as his sister, some of the expectant excitement was beginning to rub off. He was actually looking forward to the birth of his new guardian's pups.

Eventually, Akemi was settled, as comfortable as she was going to get and staring up at the ceiling patiently, waiting for the OBGYN to return it this all started and, hopefully quickly over with. Despite her stoic expression, Shippou could tell she was extremely nervous, her heart was pounding and he could see her pulse jump under the thin skin that covered her neck beside where he'd taken up residence above her shoulder on the table, being too short to reach from the floor.

Carefully, he rubbed his cheek along her jaw and patted her shoulder.

Akemi sighed quietly before closing her eyes, her hand reached up to rub soothingly over the kits shoulder in response and Shippou allowed it. He knew that the only real distraction he could offer an alpha like her was to allow her to comfort him despite knowing she was the one who needed it. She was more tense today than he had seen her before though.

She glanced up at her adopted kit and sighed again. "You know," she began to tell him quietly unwilling to disrupt the subtle hush that passed for piece in this building. "In the wild I would already be holed up in my den, perhaps with a sister Feral to aid me through my time, but certain not to set foot outside my den regardless." She had taken to explaining little things about being a Feral to the kit to help him get over his fears and anxiety.

"Do you miss the wild and your den?" Shippou asked just as quietly as she.

"Sometimes," she admitted and took a slow deep breath. "Things made sense to me and I knew how to survive them, how to get by. This place...these nonferals complicate things unnecessarily."

"You wish you were back?" Shippou asked, tensing to even consider losing what he had so recently gained. Though Akemi was Feral, she was the reason he now had some semblance of a family, pack and he didn't want to lose any part of it. He knew she had promised to stay until the birth of her pups for their health and hers. But after that...

"No," Akemi answered with a soothing rub of the kit's tense shoulders. "I have something now that I could never have in the wild." She had a pack now, something she would never have gained in the wild. "Ferals do not gather in packs, we find difficulty in trusting others in the required ways."

Shippou stared at her and considered her words. He knew inu were, by nature, social youkai. Their wild lesser cousins were as well, that feral inu would never attain such seemed, unfathomable to him. Shippou had lived without pack, it was painful. "I am sorry."

"Do not be," Akemi told him. "There was a time when I would not have welcomed the company of others regardless of who they were. When you hurt down to your soul and have no one to trust, it is easy to be alone. It is hard to trust when all who had been trusted failed to live up to that trust."

"Then why did you -"

"Because I am old. I am likely to meet with death before another cycle of seasons has passed. No Feral has lived longer than I already have, for the wilds are unforgiving and there are hunters in the wild that maintain the required balance of the forest," Akemi answered his unfinished question. "He was ill and no threat to me at the time and I wanted to save at least one life in the wild."

Shippou had more questions, but the doctor returned then, pushing in the ultrasound machine and escorting in the stragglers that had been lost shortly after entering the smelly white building. Akemi's appointment finally got underway and the Feral blandly put up with the poking and prodding determined to get the whole thing over with as quickly as possible for more reasons than her growing discomfort with the situation.

She worried for her mate, his temper short and his anxiety high for reasons she didn't know but important all the same. Akemi needed to get back to him, to soothe him and herself. She certainly didn't need to to feel his unease on top of her own anyway, not that she resented it. Their connection was a gift, but at this moment it gave her cause to worry, more than she usually did anyway.


	35. Ch 34 Dispersing Superstition

heh, sorry about the delay, but things work related and not have slowed me down in all things. I'm just now starting to pick back up again...but no promises about fanfiction for all that.

I had my review (for work) on Friday and it was about as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm not real sure how much I've managed to convey about my job, but it's fairly obvious my manager does not like me and is being really negative and nit-picky to reflect that. He's not a very good manager in any case, heh. He bases his opinion on hearsay rather than personal interaction and because I'm not particularly buddy-buddy with my coworkers (some of whom are abismal people IHOP) and I don't brown-nose to get ahead, he's convince I'm negative and complain about my work. I don't mind the work, I enjoy it (when I have the supplies I need to do it - another management issue BTW), I mind getting screwed over and dumped on by first shift. But obviously that isn't going to cut it, so I'm really in the market for a new job...

But before that, I'm going on Vacation the first two weeks in March! I'm going on my first cruise ever! I'm really excited about it, I even have somebody to go with me!

Then after my cruise, I'm taking a train from LA to Portland Oregon to visit a bud and see a place I've never been to. I'll be doing this part on my own. My family's all excited that I'm going too. I went shopping for it today and got some new clothes, I've even got a new suitcase for the trip!

Um, standard disclaimers apply, Akemi, Morenda, Crissandra and everyone you don't recognize from somewhere else are mine. Even the unnamed characters I love to throw in everyone once in a while. You know you love 'em!

**Dispersing Superstition**

Shippou hung from his customary place on Akemi's shoulder as their group stalled behind the transparent doors of the hospital. "Can't we just go around the back?" he asked to no effect. He knew, without being told that Akemi would not skirt around the slightly diminished crowd of protesters.

Akemi rubbed his back absently as she answered the way he pretty much expected, "The quickest way back to the den is that way," as "that way" led straight through the crowd to the car that would take them all home.

"Yeah, but they're likely to slow you down if you try to plow right through them again," Kohaku pointed out. He still didn't know what exactly happened the first time the Feral braved the crowd, but he wasn't exactly interested in tempting fate a second time. "Even if the crowd is smaller, most of the people out there weren't before," rather like a changing of the guard or something, the bulk of the morning's crowd had been replaced by an entirely different group of people. And these new arrivals were bigger and more insistent in their dedication to reverse the council's decision to pardon a feral.

Sango pondered her younger brother's words. "Who's to say trying to go around them would not make them more suspicious after the way Akemi pushed her way through them earlier."

"Akemi's spectacular words to the first batch of obnoxiously ignorant and opinionated people to try to get in her way would definitely be passed on to the new group," Morenda declared firmly. "No way the information wouldn't get handed down. The zealous type don't like to have their logic errors pointed out, especially in such a simple way."

"You still haven't told us what she said," Crissandra observed blandly.

Sango's shoulder's tensed, "It's better if we wait on full disclosure until after we get Akemi into the car." Morenda squeaked out a choked snicker before regaining her self composure. "We should probably wait until after we get her all the way home."

"Yeah," Morenda nodded and strangled a smile by herculean effort alone, "Driving while unable to focus on the road would be hazardous."

Akemi glanced back at them ponderously before stepping through the doors and out onto the front walk in the direction of her conveyance back to her pack, mate, and what constituted sanity in this crazy world outside the Wild's. With her one look she managed to convey to her increased entourage that stalling was both pointless and unacceptable. It also conveyed the obvious fact that she didn't see anything particularly humorous in the previous altercation Sango and Morenda kept referring to. Ferals faced the unavoidable head on when they had to, and this was yet another situation she had to deal with as a result of deciding to stay. Laughter made little sense to the Feral on her best days anyway.

Shippou obtained a better grip on the back of the Feral's coat and released a weary sigh. Even he was tired of all this drama, even if it was steeped in hilarity, but he would not abandon his alpha. She needed him, and now he knew one of the reasons why she was so uptight about these little trips off the Taishou properties. Though at the moment, he was the more nervous of the two. He actually knew what those people were likely to do. Still, he would stick to Akemi, it's what Sesshoumaru would have done had he been able to come and, as his stand in, that's what Shippou would do too.

Actually, Shippou was probably the better choice at the moment because he could be this close to Akemi without anyone bothering to comment on it. Going head on against such ignorant minded zealots was a tricky business. It was better the masses were presented with a strong front than the appearance of weakness having Sesshoumaru holding her hand would promote. And Akemi needed the contact to remain calm.

It was clear the little group plowing through the throng of misguided fools was lead by Akemi. All the others that trailed behind her were obviously reluctant to get too close. As a breeding female, Akemi could get away with an awful lot. As a breeding youkai female, that margin widened quite a bit. At least in the eyes of the marginally informed citizen.

Alas, there were a lot of humans that didn't pay attention in the required classes every student was supposed to take before entering society as a full-fledged adult. Which is where the type of human that would stubbornly stand in the way of a pregnant alpha came from. Sadly, there was a larger number of them than there should be.

"Just who do you think you are, cutting into our lines like that!" Demanded a male that was obviously the current leader of the group. "We have the right to protest here and get the word out about our government's mismanagement like this as concerned citizens should do! Our work will lead to a safer society for you and your soon to be spawn you ungrateful bitch! How dare you disrespect our efforts -"

Shippou glanced over the humans and some small number of youkai gathering more closely around them. This troops from earlier had been mostly changed out after Akemi's first cut through here, but there were a few humans left from the morn. He noticed all of the youkai had skipped out and the newly present ones were staring incredulously at the leader yelling such rubbish. They apparently hadn't realized earlier that they'd allied themselves with such a disrespectful moron.

"Just get out of her way, idiot," Sango huffed. "Every fool on the street should know you don't get in the way of a breeding female of any species!" Certainly some humans were all but lethal when messed with during a pregnancy as just about anyone who encountered the slayer during even one day of her three separate pregnancies could attest.

"Did you notice most of the earlier nuisances have left after dealing with her this morning?" Morenda casually observed. "Obviously Akemi's point was well made with that bunch."

"The knowledge has apparently not been passed on," Akemi blandly remarked with a tilt of her head. Her clawed hand reached up to rub Shippou's back soothingly.

"So you're the trouble maker," the leader of the morons accused the breeding female hotly. "How dare you criticize our attempts to correct the council's bad decision to admit the Feral monster into society!"

"Did I criticize anything of the sort?" Akemi questioned mildly.

Sango snorted, "Not hardly."

"Akemi merely pointed out that if a Feral were to come this far from the wild, and said creature were the unthinking monster your people seem to think they are," Morenda delighted in repeating the words that had so tickled her earlier, "Why would they first bother coming to a hospital? It smells unnatural and unhealthy, reeking of sickness and death."

The appointed spokesperson for the mod sputtered indignantly.

"More than that, assuming that this unthinking, unfeeling creature did ignore the smell, why would a Feral bother with what was in the building when there were a lot more easy targets standing out on the front lawn?" Morenda finished sweetly. They were valid points all, since the gathered crowd was not soliciting signatures for a petition and all of their homemade signs indicated a desire to make the Feral go away rather than getting the council to reverse their decision.

Apparently this moron was more stubborn than the earlier one because despite being able to contest anything Morenda had relayed from their earlier altercation, he remained where he stood sneering at the Borderline female. "Your silly little female brain simply does not understand what is really going on here." And so illustrated yet another flaw in society at large.

Morenda glared at the fool but was unwilling to test her restraint beyond that action.

"Move moron," Sango growled sourly. "Whether she understands or not, you are still standing in the way of a pregnant female youkai. This clearly demonstrates a monumental learning deficiency of your own as every school child is taught that standing in the way of such can lead to violent homicide that will not be blamed on the female in question."

Kohaku scoffed, "If he learned a little more than school children, he might even know that blocking an inu specifically of the Taishou clan could very well be grounds for incarceration at the discretion of the Taishou in office regardless of how the female handles it."

"That's absurd!" the leader protested before finally realizing all of his former youkai supporters were deserting him and quite a few of the humans too.

Shippou watched the proceedings curiously when a though occurred to him. "Can Ferals read?" he asked over the current argument.

Akemi's lips twitched at the corners before answering the kit kindly, "The experts stand right there, you should ask them," she gestured to the diminished crowd still cluttering up the lawn with their presence.

Shippou turned his gaze and question to the vocal leader in front of them as his alpha suggested, shocking Sango and Kohaku into stunned silence as Morenda once again had fight to remain semi-stoic in the face of such obvious proof of the ignorance presented in the form of these protesters before them. Crissandra had to keep her eyes averted from the crowd _and_ their many signs ordering the unknown Feral to "go back to the wild" and to "go back where Ferals belong".

"Of course they don't read!" the man yelled at them as if exasperated with their foolishness.

Akemi's face was blank as she replied to his outburst of stupidity, "Really," one eyebrow raised as her gaze pointedly roamed from one sign to another causing the carrier of each one to lower it in embarrassed realization of their collective stupidity so openly exposed. "Perhaps you might try to fine more effective means of conveying your message to your target audience." Her words stunned the stupid male enough that she was able to finally lead her escort through the remaining protest members left in front of the hospital and continue onward to the car and beyond toward what stood as home at this moment.

And it was all her company could do not to burst into laughter before leaving the parking lot.


	36. Ch 35 Fluttering Beneath the Skin

Nope, I'm not dead, a little overwhelmed but not zombie-fied yet.

I'm sure a lot of you were wondering if I'd dropped this story regardless of how many times I've assured to the contrary before this. well, now you know. I'm not giving up. Life just keeps getting in the way.

For Example: last time I posted I let you all know I was going on my first vacation of my adult life. A cruise and a train ride and two whole weeks off from the job I was planning to quit. Well, I did go on that vacation, but two days before I was planning to leave town, I received an e-mail from my UNCLE that they wanted me out of the house I'd been renting from them two weeks after I got back from vacation.

So I left for vacation a day later than planned and spent that day apartment hunting. I came back to town two days early to again hunt for a new place to live. I finally found a place the week after my vacation putting my move-in date at April ninth. I called to let my Aunt know and she told me my uncle could maybe help me move. I had to pack up my stuff around my Aunt and Uncle's stuff while still working full time second shift. Two weeks before I moved I gave up my dog. that was sad, but better for her - being a German shepherd husky mix, she needed a big yard. Something I would never get with an apartment. Easter weekend I had to go in to work. The following week my Uncle showed up to do work on the house around me still trying to pack and I find out that he can't help me move, so I have to find somebody to help me move. I also found out I own more of the furniture in the house than I knew about. (don't ask) I moved that weekend and spent the following week unpacking and settling in. and I ran out of steam about half way through that week. I barely made it through that weekend and the following week was the mandatory company picnic - and I mean mandatory. I went out of town to do my laundry and get the necessary roll of quarters to do laundry the next time around...and that brings us to May 1st. A Saturday that I had to work - again.

So really, life got in the way. And with the way they're talking at work, it's going to continue to do so as it sounds like weekend work might end up being mandatory every week from here on out. And before anybody asks, no I didn't quit, and since I had to sign a year lease I'm not going to quit before I have something lined up to replace it. le sigh.

In the meantime, Rumiko Takahashi will have to suffer through the delays like all the rest of you. I'm not giving her any sneak peaks regardless of the fact that she created the original material...she's just jealous that Akemi's mine.

**Fluttering Beneath the Surface**

Sesshoumaru had never truly believed the old adage that good things come to those who wait.

Experience had taught him such was often not the case at a very young age. Disappointment had been inadvertently incorporated into his early education and had lead to some sizable degree of his frustrated anger with his father. Thus he had learned to never sit back and wait for things to come to him if there was anything he could possibly do to hurry the pace of desired events.

It was a fairly productively proactive form of impatience that the Inu no Taishou had never found cause to object to. Mainly because the old dog had mistaken it for other things that seemed to fit what the Taishou had thought appropriate for the individual situations. And, so far as the cardinal lord was concerned, so long as nothing Sesshoumaru did was ill-suited for the position his father desired him to fill it was unimportant.

It was the Taishou's earliest and most flagrant proof of neglect when it came to the son he had so wronged when it really mattered.

The only good thing about this particular set of incorrect assumptions the Inu no Taishou had made was that Sesshoumaru never really expected anything to his way without much effort on his part, and he never felt entitled to anything he wanted unless he had worked hard for it.

So he wasn't truly surprised that Akemi didn't come find him the moment she returned from her latest foray into the society that stood as such a danger to her. Despite knowing she was aware of his anxiety level at all times, Akemi avoided establishing any kind of routine that could be followed or adhered to. Running to him immediately upon her arrival after every trip would have negated all of that as Sesshoumaru was always stuck in the same room with the same fools disrespectfully wasting his time and driving him up the walls.

If Sesshoumaru could arrange it, he would try to meet her car the moment it drove onto the property, but things never seemed to work out that way. He seldom got away from the incompetent males before Akemi's escort came to inform them all of their alpha's safe return. Then the males would break the chains that held their resentment of this whole process and begin to verbally abuse the mere idea of a female alpha of such Feral persuasion holding the most senior position of a pack that shouldn't even exist in their eyes.

Such talk always lead to a most unproductive and ever unending argument between what females of the broken pack were present and the males stupid enough to prolong the exchange. By the time the altercation dissolved into the uncouth exchange of actual blows, Sesshoumaru would tire of it and firmly dismiss all the fools present before attending to his secretly urgent need to locate his alpha and mate.

Such was the same upon this day, despite how cheerful and unusually fresh-faced Morenda and Sango appeared. Something had obviously given them a great deal of amusement on their joint endeavor to protect his female in his absence. While this caused him to relax somewhat knowing their moods would not be so light if something untoward had happened, nothing could compare with ascertaining such in person or dampen his need to see for himself that Akemi was returned to them in one piece and good health.

It was after he had scoured every room, hall, and bathroom of the mansion that Sesshoumaru first entertained the surprising notion that Akemi had skipped the main house altogether. Akemi had never done that before regardless of just how reasonable it would have been for her to do so.

Sesshoumaru was one of the very few to know that these little trips off the Taishou holdings left Akemi extremely tense. So tense that she often suffered from muscle cramps that seemed to be increasing in severity with each new trip, not that she ever complained about the discomfort.

Akemi never complained of anything, and sometimes Sesshoumaru was certain she suffered from more than just the muscle cramps he knew about.

It had taken awhile, but Sesshoumaru had eventually remembered every nuance and feeling that pertained to the day Akemi had marked him. He remembered the moment of extreme pain the preceded his black out, and he still couldn't figure out where such a feeling had come from.

More than that, he remembered the few words Akemi had spoken that first night Sesshoumaru brought her out of the wilds. There had to be a reason surviving a pregnancy to term was such a chancy thing. Something beyond the simple dangers of stepping outside of some hidden den. And he knew that Akemi suffered some pain from the constant exposure to Kikyou's reiki, lodged under her skin as it was.

He was still certain there was more to it, something that he was missing.

Sadly there was no way for Sesshoumaru to know for sure. Akemi's control had never wavered even once, to his conscious knowledge. She kept her scent hidden at all times, even inside their private den when they retired of an evening. Her youki was still something of a mystery, for while she still kept it under tighter reins than any other youkai he'd ever met, he could feel hers now through the bond they shared. Despite that, he still couldn't use it to locate her any more than he could before beyond a vague notion of proximity and that only when he concentrated to an extreme degree.

Luckily, once he entered the environs of Kagome's ever present barrier surrounding the house he built so long ago there were few places to check into for his alpha. The house was a great deal smaller than the manse he had been raised in, and even in its smaller size there were a number of rooms Akemi never showed any interest in, there being nothing contained therein to draw her attention to them. They were merely empty spaces that served her no purpose.

When Rin and Shippou had joined their pack, each had attained a room for themselves though neither seemed to spend much time in their assigned quarters. Rin was always up at the main house helping in the way that only a child can help, by showing her strength and independence as a female. She was well-loved in the broken pack and often treated as some female or other's darling of an evening, instigating laughter and smiles at nearly all times.

Shippou had not found so great a welcome and instead spent his time trying to keep Miroku's mischievous son away from the Broken Pack as much as possible. The little kitsune was especially fit for this task as the only other place the boy was likely to go offered the danger of encountering some wild youkai or random Feral, and having a fellow along that could work illusion, even rudimentary illusions of the kits skill level, was a good ally to have along for such an excursion. It didn't hurt that Shippou's timid nature often made him unwilling to go in that direction much of the time curtailed most of the trouble Hiro usually got into. Having another boy around also made Hiro more determined to leave his younger sisters out of it.

That is, except when the kitsune attended Akemi off the grounds in Sesshoumaru's place. Surprisingly enough, it had been the kit's idea to stand in for the older male. Shippou was apparently well educated in the duties of all members of a pack, and being around Akemi, Sesshoumaru was sure the kit would learn even more. Truly, any youkai child exposed to Akemi would benefit in richer pack bonds for the rest of their lives.

Something to ponder at a later date, for now he'd rather find his alpha and relieve Shippou of his charge. This was the first time Akemi had skipped checking on her pack before seeking the refuge of their den. He needed to know why.

Sesshoumaru found them in the bathroom, preparing to step into the oversized tub basin after a fresh scrubbing. Shippou stood to the side, holding Akemi's hand to help steady her under the added bulk of the pups.

Silently Sesshoumaru stepped forward to take her other hand and help lower the burdened female into the soothing waters collected in the tub.

"There you are," Shippou observed mildly. "Did you get lost?" It was a valid question to the kit's mind. By his perception, the inu had taken far too long, but then, the perception of the young is often skewed against the true passage of time.

"The fools who wish to court our pack," Sesshoumaru responded shortly. He didn't bother to add any further explanation knowing the kit's opinion of the males that took his class was lower than his own. "They would not accept their limited progress is due only to their own faults."

"Bakas," Shippou sniffed, quietly disdainful as his timidity did not allow for louder censure of any adult that could come back and get him. The buoyancy of Rin set free of the hospital combined with the irreverence of Hiro could only influence him so much on so short an acquaintance. Particularly when it was countered by spending time with two such quiet youkai as Sesshoumaru and Akemi.

"They made no progress again?" Akemi inquired evenly.

"They do not listen," Sesshoumaru answered her.

"Bakas," Shippou reiterated feelingly. The older youkai's frustration rubbing off on the younger. "If they're not gonna listen why do they bother to show up?"

Akemi carefully settled into the embrace of the hot water and glanced up at the kit who remained standing outside of it. "Non-ferals do not seem to understand very basic things," she answered him. "They believe that a problem will disappear if they do not pay too much attention to it. They feel they did not cause the issue, therefore they should not have to work to solve and overcome them. They simply want the benefit of having it all fixed without them," She studied Shippou carefully, wondering if he would understand what she was trying to impart to him or if he was already ruined for this lesson. "Until they step past this and realize that they will never connect with the females they aim for until they assume the responsibility of modifying their own behavior to accommodate the new special needs of their desired ones."

Shippou nodded, "Like you taking in Rin despite not being the one responsible for her parents death."

Akemi pondered him a moment before responding, "Anyone could have taken her in," the Feral realized he had purposely chosen to use an example that wasn't his own. "Taking a child in is not the whole of the solution."

Shippou blinked at her in confusion.

"If one of those males had chosen to shelter Rin," Akemi modified his example, "they would've denied her the moments to mourn her loss, for she could have no reason to mourn her parent's death if she has new guardians and a new home."

Shippou's eyes widened, "That's not right."

"This is where they go wrong," Akemi nodded. "They assume that if they could only become mated everything else will fall into place. The females will not longer feel wary of them and they themselves will know precisely how best to care for their females." She shook her head wearily, "Perhaps this would be true for others, but my each member of my Pack has special needs, and I will not release my responsibility over any of them unless I feel they will be content with their lot."

Shippou nodded, fully understanding her feelings on the subject. "They're still bakas," the kit asserted once again before turning to exit the bathroom in search of his regular cohorts, Rin or Hiro, to share his new knowledge of grown up stupidity.

Akemi stared after the young male thoughtfully before glancing up at her mate as he carefully entered the waters to join her. "So you are not born with this innate blindness," she observed.

Sesshoumaru blinked at her before considering her statement before it occurred to him that she was including him in her observation. "Am I like them?"

"You have your moments," she nodded mellowly. "You are not so given to willful denial as they are, but there are somethings you do not see. But this is also something many of the Pack also do not see. I believe it to be a trait of non-Ferals, though it might be a skill singular to me as I have not a wide range of Ferals to draw knowledge from. We are solitary creatures, isolated by the very instincts that help us survive. Females only tolerate other females when we have to. Perhaps this is the source of your blindness, a social survival method to retain sanity while keeping constant close company with others."

Sesshoumaru weighed her words, perceiving their value before issuing an opinion of his own. "I would not know what to assign as the cause of what you are perceiving being unable to perceive the whole of it myself, but I do not think it is simply remaining among others that causes it. If it did, those two successful males would not have been able to provide for the needs of their respective females." The inu slid closer to his alpha before she reached out to pull his hand over the bump that cradled their pups. A few weeks back the first of the pups kicked at the womb walls while she was in a doctor's appointment and Sesshoumaru had missed it. He'd been so upset for missing it that Akemi had made certain to reach for him at the first hint of movement ever since.

The corner of Sesshoumaru's lips curled up in an unconscious smile of pride and joy before he resumed his speech. "Part of the problem with the males seeking to court the Broken Pack, is that they are from the higher ranks of society. They have been groomed to assume positions of power and many of them were raised to shoulder responsibilities that are handed to them without their choice." Sesshoumaru leaned in closer to press his ear to the bump to check on the heart rate of his pups and mate.

"We are fine," Akemi's hand swept gently through his dampening hair. "That might play a part of it," she acknowledged his suggestion. "But I have not experience enough to decide such."

"It doesn't matter," Sesshoumaru dismissed the issue. "All that matters is whether or not, you and the pups remain healthy."

Akemi gazed down at him, "More matters than that. But for now, this is all that we can know anything certain of for now."

Sesshoumaru leaned up to kiss his mate before settling in for a long soak in the tub.


	37. Ch 36 Miko with a Mission

I'm happy to say I'm not dead, even though I am particularly exhausted. Life just keeps trickling past in one giant rush to a finish line that keeps moving out. Or in other words, work is ridiculously busy to the point where regardless of how much we manage to get done there is no sense of achievement because there's still more to be done and no manager willing to point out our progress.

Yeah, our supervisor only points out our flaws, expects us to work over time (without asking or waiting for confirmation that we even _can_ work it), and a decidedly bad habit of scheduling everybody more work in a day than could ever possibly be accomplished even with the afforementioned over time. For example, I no longer eat lunch during my shifts. I almost never take a break longer than to rush to the bathroom and come right back and I'm still stuck in the lab for 10+ hours a day. All of which would be fine, if we got paid for all of it, but the first five hours over forty _during_ the week are on _us_. and weekend work is only straight time, not time and a half.

Plus the supervisor never says thank you for the things she should. We keep asking about certain safety issues in the lab at each of our rather pointless weekly meetings and nothing is ever done about them. (we have a few towers of boxes set to drop on the first person to touch them) And if we question errors made by supervisors or other non-lab personel, we've been told we're being insubordinate. As I told a few people in the lab, they don't pay me to have a brain of my own regardless of the fact I'm required to have a college degree to even be hired for the position I work in.

Bah, enough complaining, I'm sure you've heard enough though i could go on.

I'm slowly settling into my new apartment, I never seem to spend a lot of time in it even though I seldom go anywhere else when I'm not working. I'm just so tired. Heh, and through it all I had to find some kind of inspiration to get this chapter out. I had a couple false starts before I managed to type all this out. I'm just not connecting well with this story any more, and much as I hate to force it I am determined to finish it.

Ah, well. It'll happen when it happens and hopefully I won't lose you all by trying your patience endlessly. I think once I do finish this up and I had better stop it for a while. I've quite obviously lost my touch.

Maybe then I'll work on my original attempts more seriously. Who knows?

As much as I love Rumiko Takahashi's provided playground, perhaps it'd be better if I finally built one of my own to share. If I ever managed to do something I could sell I could break out of this job I'm stuck in.

**Miko with a Mission**

Kagome let out a growl of frustration as she had to force her white knuckled grip to loosen on the steering wheel. Council meetings for the last few months had been hellish on the best of days. And even the typically relaxing drive home with Sango couldn't undo her knotted nerves anymore.

Today was not one of the best of days and Sango had not been with her in order to better protect Akemi on her visit to the latest prenatal visit to the hospital.

Kagome let out another growl as she gave the pressure dents left by her fingers a dark look.

While the cardinal lords had easily and quickly delivered judgment in the matter of pardoning the Feral Akemi, a matter that darkened Kagomes mood every time – Akemi had done nothing to require a pardon, they were not the only ones with a voice in council and all of the lesser lords had been making noise ever since.

The approval of such morons normally wouldn't matter much to her. Kagome never made decisions based on what appealed to the masses. The masses, as far as her experience had taught her, were too often time misguided in their judgment by selfish considerations and greed. Usually compounded by willful ignorance and a lack of compassion, the masses could not be trusted to rule themselves they way some idealists wanted to believe.

On her better days, Kagome was willing to listen to the wants and needs of the people before graciously making her votes in council, but lately...

After Akemi had received pardon from the council, it occurred to Kagome that it was possible other Ferals could be reintroduced into society rather than simply exterminating them on site. If Akemi could heal, then it had to be possible that others could live long enough to do the same. Granted Akemi was exceptional and unique, but that didn't mean a system couldn't be setup to aid others to follow the path that Akemi had.

Kagome believed the reason no other Youkai had managed the same feat as Akemi because of the adversities Ferals faced in every encounter with society. If they were slaughtered on sight, it made it fairly difficult to prove whether they could be ready for reintroduction. Dead Ferals answered no questions.

The issue gave her hope for the Borderlines in the Broken Pack. If she could establish a way for them to return after falling, then perhaps the females in question could relax. As it was Morenda and several others teetered on the edge, terrified to fall but unable to step back. If Kagome could make it so that the stress to stay sane as society labeled it lessened greatly, perhaps she could help them finally heal.

She had to do something because the suspense of their balancing act often had her just as stressed out as it had to be keeping them. And she knew of several families that were so sick of the suspense that their beloved daughters going Feral would almost a relief in comparison to what they all suffered now.

The problem was, the council didn't see things the same way. It wasn't the cardinal lords that were opposing her, though some were not a hundred percent in her corner on this issue. Akemi was one thing, opening the door to nameless Ferals was absolutely another altogether.

Society had suffered too many losses over the centuries of peaceful unity of the species to Feral attack to willingly take any such creature to its bosom. Even now, protesters paraded outside the council building lobbying to overturn Akemi's pardon. The lesser lords took up the cause and brought into the council chambers, bringing up the possibility of reversing the Cardinal lords decision in _every_ session. And Kagome found herself wasting time she could be spending working to convince the council to consider a Feral re-naturalization project to defend and uphold the finality of a decision they had already made.

Just thinking about it made Kagome want to tear out her hair.

Kagome sighed in hopes of deflating some of her punt up frustration before climbing out of her car.

There were times the miko actually missed her drives to and from council obligations with Sango in the baby blue convertible, but she never missed them enough to suggest taking the car. Kagome was certain Akemi felt more comfortable in the open top than she would enclosed in any of the other Taishou cars, even the ridiculously long, and extravagant limo the Inu no Taishou insisted whisk him around everywhere.

Kagome was ever careful to consider what would unnerve or upset Akemi's fragile state and did all she could to lessen as much of the Feral's discomfiture as possible. Stress was bad for a pregnant female and the miko could only surmise it would be worse for a female carrying multiples. As it was Kagome was dead certain her alpha was suffering under too much strain just looking after the pack. Not that Akemi ever seemed to complain.

Kagome let out another sigh as she pressed a hand to her temple in a futile attempt to ease the pounding therein. Stress wasn't good for her either, Kagome smiled ruefully. There was only one cure for this, the miko nodded needlessly. She would simply have to seek out all of her family to assure herself they were all well before finding some excuse to coral her Inuyasha back to the house for some necessary alone time.

That was one extremely good thing about the Broken Pack taking up residence in the Taishou manse, Takara was always over trying to help out and spending time with Akemi's Rin. And neither girl was about to let anything bad happen to Shin. Although, Kagome creased her brow in though, the infant was started to get about a lot faster than either girl generally seemed think he could. Kagome shrugged her shoulders in dismissal. The Broken Pack had proven to be able to keep all the loose kids running around from actual harm regardless of how much having them around sometimes bothered them. Shin was probably the only male favorite in the pack due to his size, youth, and sunny disposition. Hiro still made most of the pack wary and Miroku had taken to keeping his son elsewhere for at least most of the day.

A glance at the other cars parked beside her own informed the miko that Akemi and her escort were already home from the hospital and the slew of males that were taking Sesshoumaru's class were still in attendance as well. That was another source of stress for Kagome as well. Those thoughtless males.

Some though the fact the suitors to the Broken Pack were willing to take the class was proof that they admitted they had a problem. Sort of a first step to correcting it. Kagome was not one of those as she had personally seen how the idiots acted in her brother-in-law's lessons. The seemingly did everything but actually learn. Most of them seemed to think Sesshoumaru deserved their scorn and teased him for not being _male enough_ to dominate Akemi.

Just the memory of it caused Kagome to growl for more reasons than her previous frustration as she wandered up to the side kitchen door to the mansion.

Kagome had known Sesshoumaru for a long time and well understood his true nature. The pure-blooded inu had never wanted to be in a position of power, at least not that Kagome had seen. True, Kagome had not known the Beta male before he was under the influence of Akemi, but at first meeting him chasing his fiance through the woods of a park near her childhood home, she had always understood that while he was more powerful than nearly every youkai she'd ever met he was Beta as Beta could get.

And as such could live without being the dominant mate in a relationship with his alpha so long as he was _in_ a relationship with Akemi. It was no threat to his self-worth or masculinity and Kagome was truly sick of the other males that tried to shame him into thinking otherwise. If any male deserved to have his machismo questioned with the insecure fools that teased him.

Not that Kagome worried Sesshoumaru would actually feel the shame they tried to tease him into. She was just tired of their disrespect in the face of his and Akemi's attempts to help them achieve what they each seemed to desire. Stupid males.

Kagome briskly walked into the kitchen and deposited her bag by the door into the main part of the house before flaring her reiki briefly in search of the strangely empty space surrounded by others that Kagome had come to associate with Akemi's location. When she didn't find it in the house, the miko frowned and went in search of Sango and Morenda to find out why the alpha female was missing with the males still in the house.

"Mommy," Takara came smiling down the hall, the joy of welcome shining from her every pore.

"Welcome home, Miss Kagome," Rin followed almost as excited as the partial youkai she called friend. Kagome was one of Rin's saviors after all, so the miko was one of her favorite people.

"Hello," Kagome greeted them with the best smile she could manage.

Both girls stopped short as they perceived the worn smile Kagome tried to turn in to one of genuine joy for them, but both knew enough to the elder girl's mannerisms to identify exhaustion when they saw it. Both pups were glad Kagome's council duties only called her away from the house three days a week. As it was Rin and Takara shared a knowing nod before Takara retreated back into the main house to retrieve Inuyasha.

"Are the stupid grown ups still not accepting Miss Akemi?" Rin asked Kagome. The child, though not well versed in full political arena Kagome dealt with day to day, was well aware that a number of people objected to her new mother-figure's presence in the world. "Why won't they just accept it?"

"Because it scares them to Rin," Kagome answered tiredly. "They do not understand how a Feral thinks and reacts, many of them have been hurt by Ferals that escaped the wilds and can't think beyond that."

"Like Kohaku?" Rin asked

"Like Kohaku, but worse, because they do not know as much about them as even Kohaku did," Kagome replied. "And that's the main problem. There are not many people who know much about Ferals. And even fewer who think we should try to learn more." Kagome sighed in another attempt to keep her frustration from tinting her words as she continued to converse with the younger girl. "It was the same before humans and youkai learned to live peacefully together," Kagome reminded herself as much as imparting the information to Rin. It was good to remember a similar battle to the one she fought now had been won before. It would just take time.

Rin nodded in understanding though she was shaken to learn so many grown ups could be scared of something Rin held no fear of. Akemi had never frightened Rin even though her close friend Shippou was still getting over his fears concerning the Feral. And he was doing the so with the selfsame feral all those grown ups were so scared to trust.

"They're still dumb, all of them," Rin insisted stubbornly. "Being afraid of someone they've never even met!"

Kagome smiled mildly, "They are entitled to their fear as you are entitled to your feelings as well. The only time anyone has the right to criticize the feelings of others is when those feelings cause them to physically harm someone else for no reason."

"Like the bad people that hurt the Broken Pack?" Rin asked as she and Kagome finally approached the room Rin had been certain Kagome was heading toward. Unlike Akemi, Kagome was pretty predictable. If she came home and the majority of the stupid males from Mr. Sesshoumaru's class was still present, she always headed there to help kick them all off the premises.

Kagome paused in surprise, "What do you know about that Rin?"

"They hurt Miss Akemi too," Rin gazed sadly up at Kagome. "They're the reason she went Feral. They hurt her so bad that she had to run away from everyone to feel better. Rin knows. Rin felt the same way for a while. Rin asked Miss Akemi why she had to run so much farther than Rin did to feel better."

"What did she say, Rin?" Kagome asked, certain the answer was important.

"She said it was because humans care for their injured in the way the wild youkai looked after theirs and youkai don't do that the same way," Rin looked up at Kagome sadly. "Rin thought about it after she said that because I know the youkai go to the hospital when they get hurt with broken bones and stuff. But then I realized there are more hurts than that, and those are the ones she was talking about."

Kagome pondered this carefully. Akemi's assessment of the society she was barely accepted in seemed at first a little skewed until Kagome realized that only humans had doctors for mental illnesses and such. Human doctors even treated depression as a worthy malady to be taken seriously. Youkai had no similar equivalent and generally relied upon miko for such hurts.

But miko were as easily the bringers of punishment as comfort and no mentally hurting creature could fully trust such a creature. What they needed was someone to listen, soothe, and space to lick their wounds without fearing judgment, further abuse or rejection.

She hadn't even been aware of the deficiency in her own society until it was pointed out by a child trying to understand the perceptions of an outsider. And it gave her fresh incite into how to go about setting up her project and getting the council to see the necessity of doing so.

She should probably wait until Akemi's load was a bit lighter though as Kagome was now certain the Feral would be needed for her attempts to be successful.

With that positive though, the miko Squared her shoulders in determination and stepped into the impromptu classroom she was all set to clear out in record time so that she could go back to her home with her mate for some alone time without leaving a reason to require Akemi return to the mansion to supervise them. Kagome felt like she'd had the first real break in her efforts for the first time in months and she was eager to share her new ideas with the only other person outside the council that knew what she was trying to achieve.

With a more genuine smile than she'd managed in weeks Kagome stepped into the midst of some of her most obnoxious obligations ready to clean house and shut down the mansion for the night.

Things were looking decidedly up.


	38. Ch 37 Lost in Translation

It still amazes me after all this time how many hits I receive on my stories even when I'm not posting. More so to find some of my older stories still being listed as favorites years after they've finished. My Audience may be silent for the most part, but what there are reamin loyal and dedicated. It almost makes up for the crazy lameness of work. It sometime amazes me more so that the two top fics for visitation are _Feral_ and this fic which is arguably, not my best.

heh, the work thing requires lots of overtime and things have just gone completely out of control, but I blame management as per usual. We're gearing up for an expected visit from the FDA. We don't know the exact day to expect their sudden audit, but there is a general consensus that it will be in the next few weeks. Which really means nothing to me or even the other people working in the lab. What we're really stressing about is this so-called record year we're expecting. they keep hiring new people without buy more equipment. How we're expected to run more tests on instruments we don't have amazes me, but there you go. Management fails to notice reality.

ah whatever, it's about time for me to get some sleep. I have to work later today and I'd like some sleep before I get up and swim before work. It's good exercise and I need it.

Standard disclaimers apply and here's another chapter of one of my most popular fics.

enjoy!

**Lost in Translation**

Despite the general belief that children are naturally greedy creatures, it is only adults that will accumulate with the mere intention of showing off. Children will slowly pick this tendency up over the course of time and maturation, like all other habits generally are, initially it is a behavior they fail to understand. For example, Takara had never really understood the reason her grandfather's house was always such a great size. He certainly didn't need the room.

It was moments like these that really brought this seemingly incidental issue to the forefront of her mind.

Takara raced down the long hallway that threaded through the majority of the first floor in her Grandfather's house before reaching the only set of stairs that went down to the underground portion of the building.

The manse actually had two basements, an eccentricity created by the Taishou responsible for creating the initial structure that served as the current mansions foundation. Her grandfather had told her at one point (during one of his long-winded and pointless efforts to inform his grandpup of the clans history) that the house had been built low to the ground originally because the first people of their clan had lived in underground dens and weren't wholly comfortable sleeping anywhere else. Takara had dutifully taken note of the detail despite wondering why, with all the available room the subsequent Taishous had ever had a reason to build up after that.

As a child of such tender years, Takara had yet to learn that wealth could only serve its true purpose when put on display in ways that drew envy from all the neighbors. And she couldn't know that the original Taishou domicile lacked defined rooms as she understood them. The house had been built when the clan habit was to sleep in piles for comfort and warmth, the lacking invention of central heating making such a real necessity of a winter's night.

It would never have occurred to her such was the case. Her lessons in History had not progressed that far and she probably would not have made the connection without the truth being explicitly pointed out to her. A girl of her age was more in the mode of learning by listening rather than using the information provided to create intellectual connections of her own.

She did occasionally sleep with her parents and younger brother, but usually she slept by herself in her own room. It was how all her family slept and, as far as she knew, every other kid of her acquaintance was the same. Parents slept together and kids generally had their own rooms, though Hiro's younger sisters, Kaoru and Mari technically shared a room.

The Broken Pack were strange, as well Takara knew. So, though she knew that many of the her aunt Akemi's pack sisters slept in groups in various rooms of the house, she never thought of their behavior beyond being another part of their inherent strangeness.

One strange thing she had taken note of, none of the Broken Pack cared to explore the basements much. But she wrote that off as being a grown up thing rather than a Broken Pack thing. Neither of her parents cared to go down there much either.

Which might make it seem strange that her father was down there now. But it simply wasn't so.

Hiro loved the lower levels of the great house. Takara was fairly certain his joy in their existence was more due to his using them to scare his sisters than appreciation for having something to explore. Consequently, her papa and Uncle Miroku often wound up down here about once a day to chew him out for terrorizing Kaoru and Mari. And more recently, the Broken Pack.

Hence why she was racing that way now. It was a standing agreement between Inuyasha and his daughter that she come to get him the minute her mother got home. Takara loved when her parents proved how close they were as a mommy and papa should be, especially with the way Kagome had been acting when she got home from council meetings these days.

Lately Kagome returned from her meetings ready to breathe fire in every direction, and while she had thus far managed to avoid taking it out on anybody undeserving of it, Takara was certain it would be better for everybody if she got papa to make her mommy feel better as soon after she got home as possible. Besides, it usually put her papa in a better mood too.

A happy family was Takara's greatest goal in life.

Now if only Hiro would start to cooperate. The child heaved a deep sigh as she neared her father and uncles current location quickly picking up on the undertones of lecture underway minutes before they came into sight. Boys were stupid.

"Hiro, you know better," she could hear her Uncle Miroku scolding her sometime playmate wearily. This sounded like a fairly well-worn harangue to her. "You are not allowed to steal Grace's cane and use it as a pole to hold up your misrepresentations of ghosts to scare the wits out of Hikaru and the other poor females whilst they bathe," his voice sounded weary with a tight note that Takara well knew meant he was fighting to hide an amused grin. "I do not think I need to even address tieing up your younger sisters and locking them in the broom closet under the stairs again."

So that's why she hadn't seen the younger girls trailing after Hiro in his mad dash from the bathing rooms. They normally were never away from their elder brother without something forcing the issue.

"I wouldn't have to do it if they would just do what they're supposed to," Hiro grumbled darkly over a pair of hesitant sniffs, Takara identified as coming from the two sisters mentioned previously. She was actually surprised he could say that. The girls never refused to do anything Hiro told them to unless it was a request to leave him alone.

For the most part, Hiro put up with his younger sister's constant presence. Mischievously dragging them into trouble with him something that usually got him into even more trouble. Such behavior never had set well with Takara, something that had only become more pronounced since she became a big sister herself. It was her job to keep Shin out of dangerous trouble. Not to drag him into it.

"Keh," Takara heard her papa huff. "You need to do more than just talk to him this time, somebody could've been hurt in the panic." This was true. The females had all but stampeded out of the bathing room, barefoot and without clothes, slipping on the bare floors in their haste to escape. Takara and Rin had been pushed into a wall fairly hard too, if not for Rin attempting to protect and shelter the younger girl, Takara could have been more than a little scared at the rough handling. "And the girls nearly suffocated in that closet because he locked it and left the key in the lock. These old rooms aren't built like the ones upstairs."

"I know," her Uncle Miroku sighed. "I'll have to discuss it with Sango at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps Kagome might have some ideas too."

"Why don't you ask Aunt Akemi, too?" Takara asked as she perceived an option they weren't considering. Takara took in the scene as the others reacted to her suggestion. Kaoru and Mari were each clutching one of Uncle Miroku's pant legs, one of his hands rubbing soothingly over each dark head while her own papa stood cross-armed and glaring at the delinquent Hiro. "She's the alpha isn't she?"

"Kid's right, Miroku," Inuyasha declared gruffly. "And it's her pack he's been harassing again. Even if you and Sango decide to actually punish him on your own, it's her right to address a threat to her pack." Inuyasha bent to swing Takara up into his arms with a sigh, "He may not be as big a threat as some of those close-minded fools upstairs, but the havoc he's creating with the submissive ones is serious. A pack stressed out and terrified made more demands on its alpha. If Sesshoumaru finds out about it, he might just leave the boy with scars without consulting his alpha. Akemi's been stretched so thin already that Hiro antagonizing any member of the pack might cause complications in her pregnancy when she tries to go the extra mile to deal with the fall out." And everybody was well aware how real that threat was.

Takara hadn't thought of that, but now that it had been explained to her, she glared blackly at her nominal cousin. "Maybe you should tell Uncle Sesshoumaru instead of Aunt Akemi," Takara growled, the care of pack was a serious thing. "She didn't even come into look over the broken pack after she got back from the hospital."

"That's not good," Inuyasha grumbled.

"They're back already?" Miroku asked carefully ignoring the little girl's suggestion to tell the merciless beta in place of the more placid Feral alpha. It was strange to think he felt safer reporting his son's behavior to a Feral than Sesshoumaru, but he well remembered how the inu felt about his alpha when she wasn't breeding. It didn't take much imagination to realize that if he told Sesshoumaru that Hiro was responsible for complicating Akemi's already difficult tasks, he may as well start planning his boy's funeral.

Takara nodded, "Mommy is too. Rin's probably already lead her up to the school room to get rid of all the dummies." For the males who took her uncle's classes were universally understood to be the biggest dummies of all. "Uncle Sesshoumaru headed for their den the moment he realized Aunt Akemi didn't come in the house."

"We'd best get upstairs to help evict the morons," Inuyasha shifted his little girl before glaring back at Miroku sternly. "Grab your boy and don't let him go for anything. We're probably going to kick out everybody that isn't staying the night. It looks like you've got tonight with Sango to decide what you're going to do because tomorrow I will be informing the alpha about it."

"Inuyasha..." Miroku sagged.

"I may only be half inu, monk," the hanyou growled gruffly, "But I know you don't terrorize your pack mates, especially when they're already fragile, and you never increase the burden of a breeding female. You've had your chance to correct his behavior. Several times before this. Now it's an issue for the alpha to address. Perhaps Akemi can think of something to curb his unruliness finally."

"But Inuyasha, she could demand blood, whipping, exposure -" the monk protested.

"I know that," Inuyasha cut him off. "Believe me I know. But I also trust Akemi, and while you try to protect the brat, others of the pack are suffering from your leniency. It's not fair to them, especially when they can't handle it at the best of times. And it's wrong for Akemi to bear the brunt of it in her condition. More so that she doesn't even know the cause of the worst of it."

Miroku grew silent and tightened his grip on Hiro as they reached the stairs to ascend to the ground level of the manse.

Takara glanced back over her papa's shoulder and felt sorry for Uncle Miroku, though not so much for Hiro. Hiro deserved whatever came to him for scaring the Broken Pack like he insisted on doing all the time. More so since he knew better and didn't seem to care for the consequences. She and Rin had gotten to know quite a few of the other females in the pack and they knew exactly what kind of results Hiro's little pranks generally had. "Don't feel bad, Uncle Miroku," Takara tried to comfort her uncle and by extension Kaoru and Mari who had started crying quietly for Hiro, convinced he was going to die for some reason. Really the two were weird. Beyond just liking to be around Hiro weird. "At least it won't be Inu no Taishou in charge."

Inuyasha smirked down at his pup, "There is that. Akemi might be Feral but she's still Akemi. She's hardly likely to give him a sentence permanently detrimental to his well-being."

Miroku failed to look relieved. "What would a Feral deem permanently debilitating to a child? You know as well as I do that Akemi had never seen living children before coming out of the wild. She doesn't know-"

"And you don't know a thing about pack if you ever think Akemi could possibly do anything that would hurt a member of the pack," Inuyasha snorted. "Perhaps you and Sango should reevaluate what you're getting out of being part of this pack if you want to refuse to play by pack rules.:

"I know the result of Inu no Taishou's care of his pack, and he's sane," Miroku grumbled to the side

"Where's Sango," Inuyasha gruffly demanded. "She's severely neglected your education if you don't know better than to compare Akemi to my father in any capacity at all."

"I think they're up in the classroom where mommy went," Takara replied helpfully. Truly she thought her papa was taking too long to get up there as it was, though she could understand the need for such a careful pace. The last thing anybody needed was for Hiro to get loose once again.

"Akemi and Inu no Taishou don't even begin to have anything in common beyond being inu,"  
Inuyasha gruffly mumbled under his breath. "She's a natural alpha and he's a mis-educated fool."

Takara glanced up at her parent in surprise. He was usually the most lenient of all her grandfather's detractors, but at this moment he didn't sound even marginally supportive or proud of the relation. "Papa?"

"Sorry baby," her papa tightened his arms around her briefly. "Akemi's just been hurt so much without her pack making it worse." Takara nodded before pensively noting that today her papa just might need her mommy to cheer him up as much as Kagome needed Inuyasha to cheer her up.

Perhaps she could distract her ever present grandfather with Shin to help prolong her parents' private time as soon as they got home. Takara knew they didn't get much time to themselves, and she didn't know what they needed such privacy for, but she was certain they needed more privacy than they were getting due to her live-in grandpa.

Inu no Taishou could no longer live up at his house anymore after all. And living with her Aunt Sango and Uncle Miroku had apparently never even been considered. Takara had never really understood why though.


	39. Ch 38 Thoughts of the Fallen

No, I'm not dead, just really really stagnant. I'd apologize, but I think you're all getting rather tired of me doing so.

In this chapter we get to see the little known perview of the Inu no Taishou. He's really old fashioned in a lot of his views, but he does display quite a lot of what is wrong with the parenting we find in society today. Especially among politicians, workaholics, and celebrities who become parents. these failings are not limited to those indicated for the issue is far to widespread to be limited to such, but they are the most prominent examples of the Taishou's problem. Blood does not a family make. Family is more than genetics. And it requires work to make it happy and whole.

Takara is aware of this and she tries to make it happen, but a girl as young as she is, with as limited as her understanding is, can only do so much when certain older members strubbornly refuse to see there is a problem. Amazingly enough, while Takara has little help of fixing her grandfather's problem she gets a little help from none other than the only dead member of our cast. heh, strange the Kikyou would be the one to teach the Taishou about what family is, but whatever else you can say about Kikyou, she and Kaede held affection for each other, they looked out for each other and they stuck together in a day and age that wasn't exactly conducive to helping sustain such a reality. I did alter things a bit as obviously Kaede would be dead by the time of this tale.

I'm sure Rumiko Takahashi won't mind it too much.

enjoy this latest exploration into the unlikely. The unlikely bit being that the Taishou can realize he might actually be wrong about something. Seriously.

**Thoughts of the Fallen**

Gazing out the tinted windows of the limo that customarily drove him home after most council meetings, the Taishou considered the many turns his life had taken in recent years. Most all of them were not what he would consider for the better.

Nothing typified this result quite so well as the impediment lined up the drive to what _had been_ his traditional family home. There were cars parked all the way off the property in such a way as prevented him from reaching the house he was no longer welcome in and even his driver grumbled about the maneuvering that had to be done to return the long, stately black vehicle back to its home in the specially built garage. But then, the chauffeur had always been a little fussy.

Of course, these were merely symptoms of the greater malaise that had covered his life as of late. The loss of his place in his own house was simply the end point of a long process that had ousted him of his seat of power.

Outside of the clan, he was still the cardinal lord and alpha of the Taishous with all the respect and honor the various titles could contain. But inside the borders of what was nominal his territory...

The Taishou sighed.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

When he'd hired the Youkai mate-matchers all those years ago for his heir, his intent had been to ensure the solidarity of his familial power and demonstrate the considerable wealth his clan had at their disposal. It was only a minor consideration that doing so would also see to it that his unreadable son, Sesshoumaru would be happy whilst seeing to the most basic of duties required of an heir. The continuity of their bloodline via the creation of the next generation of Taishous. And such a result was assured due to the well known fact that pairs arranged by mate-matchers were excessively fertile unions.

He certainly hadn't wanted his son to run into the same difficulties as his sire had. It was better to have many pups rather than only one or two. It made it easier to assign the roll of heir to the best candidate and kept the uneasy grumblings of the lesser packs to a minimum. Succession was a serious business and the poor patriarch of the Western inu was catching a lot of flack over the invisibility of his heir apparent.

This was but a long understood stress that hung heavily on his shoulders.

If only his first mate had not proven so stubborn to impregnate. The Taishou would have managed to nearly repopulate the pack on his own had the silly bitch simply had the good taste to conceive more often.

The Taishou heaved a calming sigh, but that was old news and old stresses. These new larger symptoms were mostly a result of more recent decisions. Decisions following the customary act of sending his son's orphaned betrothed away to a youkai school for girls.

No matter his intent, the consequences had proven rather dire, permanent, and downfall inducing.

Since then his youngest son's mate had pretty much taken over.

That had been a real shocker.

The Taishou's experience with human females was mostly limited to his second mate. Izayoi had been as meek as he could ask of a female and beautiful as well. She'd followed his directive without question and supported his every move to forward the good of his family. The only thing she'd lacked was power. An issue he'd only realized after she'd given birth to his last son.

There really wasn't a chance of the Taishou finding another youkai female after the first had died. Females of mate-able age that weren't already betrothed were rare as most failed to be widowed before their nubile years passed completely away. The production of young was a strenuous endeavor for the female. Even in these enlightened times, it could end in death for pups and bitch. And even if it didn't, the female usually ended up completely worn out and long dead before their partners.

It was the fate of females he supposed.

As he was still required to produce more offspring after his first mate died, he had found Izayoi and they had been easy together. He was quite pleased with his choice for more reasons than because it was _his choice_ this time around. That was just an added plus. His first mate hadn't been that bad, but she was rather uppity for being from a lessor clan who'd only been aloud to ally with his pack due to their sizable wealth. They'd never quite clicked, and had he paid enough attention they probably would have argued extensively. Izayoi was different and he'd rather liked her after all.

But that small amount of happiness certainly didn't last forever. The minute the pack found out the latest Taishou son had been born with diluted blood they'd been certain to make it clear that a hanyou would never be qualified to be heir let alone Taishou. And his last chance to free Sesshoumaru of the burden he was so ill-suited for vanished. And he hadn't bothered to try again.

By that point no female would have him for fear of his offspring killing them on the way out. Not that Inuyasha had killed his mother, but the birth had been rather hard on the delicate woman. And she'd suffered what the humans had termed postpartum depression which had only been compounded by the Taishou's preoccupation with his own despair at her lack of the necessary power to produce acceptable pups for the pack. Or rather, if you took Kagome's theories on the subject, his neglect had allowed Izayoi's health to degenerate through malnutrition, cause by severe lack of appetite, to the point where she caught a simple cold two months after Inuyasha was born which did the rest.

Of course, Kagome loved to blame everything on her poor father-in-law, the Taishou mentally scoffed. Izayoi died from a series of unfortunate circumstances that were nobody's fault. A fact that very seldom brought him comfort when he thought of his second mate. He missed her.

But whether it was his fault or not, with her death his chances of ever finding another female of any species had gone down the tubes. Her death had doomed Sesshoumaru more than himself.

The Taishou had always known Sesshoumaru was not meant for the position of heir. The boy was capable of it, certainly. He had the power and strength for it, but not the ambition. Power and strength could get a person to the top, and cleverness could keep you there, but Sesshoumaru simply didn't have the necessary drive. And try as he might, Inu no Taishou simply couldn't seem to manufacture the proper one for him.

He did not believe Sesshoumaru was a born Beta as everyone claimed and even the pup himself was convinced of. Sesshoumaru was much to powerful and independent to only be fit for measly submission to some other lesser creature. There was no other in the pack that was his equal in youki and skill and there was no one who could convince him Sesshoumaru would ever settle for following someone he could take down without lifting a finger unless there was a strong a affection. And there was no chance his boy would feel that way about another male who wasn't family.

So the Taishou had despaired quietly and worked to prepare Sesshoumaru for the roll he would be forced to enter.

He hadn't expected all his work to get thrown back in his face so violently, the ungrateful pup. But he didn't blame Akemi, for that. Because that Feral creature was not Akemi. Akemi no longer existed, no matter what anyone said.

With a sigh, the Taishou signaled to his driver that he would walk the rest of the way up to the house he'd been shuffled to after summarily being evicted from his own house without ceremony. He felt a need for a stiff drink and while Kagome strictly prohibited the presence of liquor in the same house as her kids, the Taishou felt that since she was directly responsible for his being shuffled to her home he was due some leniency about such things. Besides, he was alpha of this pack regardless of all the foolishness going on around him, he didn't have to listen to some female with a puffed view of her own position within his pack.

Her job was simply to breed and nothing else. So what if she was the youngest Shikon level miko in recent history, the Taishou thought petulantly, that power was only let into the family so that it could prevent further deterioration of the blood.

It didn't take long for the old inu to make it to the quaint little house Inuyasha had insisted on building when he and Kagome got married. That was another thing the Taishou hadn't approved of. Pack was meant to live together, not as neighbors. But once Sesshoumaru had built his, Inuyasha had been determined to follow suit. The affection shown by such a desire to be like his elder brother had been the Taishou's only form of solace, even if Sesshoumaru didn't even live in the house that he'd built.

This of course had been the only reason the Taishou _could_ be shunted out of his own mansion and still remain on the same property. He definitely wanted that drink now.

Before the Inu no Taishou could reach out to turn the knob on the outside door of Kagome's Kitchen it opened swiftly to reveal the cherubic face of his granddaughter clutching his grandson carefully to her chest. Takara was precious only in that she represented the continuation of the direct Taishou line and was, currently, the only one capable to breed the next generation after her. Shin, as a male had to find a worthy female in order to do the same, but Takara only need a male participant and she could do the rest herself. The rest of her existence mattered very little to him beyond the amusement gained from watching her interact with the other pups of her acquaintance.

"Grandpa, will you go for a walk with us?" her dewy eyes glimmered up at him conveying a subtle pleading that immediately put him on guard, but in no way conduced him to even consider delaying that drink.

"Not right now, pup," Inu no Taisho replied in that distracted tone he'd master early in his parenthood. He had always been busy with Cardinal business and pack duties when his pups asked anything of him. But that had never been an issue to his mind. The Raising of pups was best left to the females that birthed them, and in the even such a female was incapable due to death, as his two mates had been for Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, well that's what trained tutors and caretakers are for.

"Please, grandpa," Takara pleaded verbally this time, making an unconscious effort to make her eyes especially dewy and sparkly. Puppy eyes was what she was going for. Every kid knew the magic power of puppy dog eyes, and while some adults were mostly immune, no one was completely. The eyes even worked on other kids sometimes. It was imperative that her grandpa be delayed from entering the house.

It was well acknowledged that once the older inu was inside it he didn't remove himself again until required to attend another council session or some other duty concerning the pack. Such was not likely to happen again until tomorrow at the earliest. So once the Taishou entered the house, Inuyasha and Kagome's chances for privacy became non-existent.

"I said no pup," Inu no Taishou growled grumpily.

"I suggest you take her up on her offer of a walk, Taishou," Kikyou declared pointedly. "It is not likely she will ask too many more times if you continue to dismiss her like that. As it is she isn't asking as a way of spending time with you but simply to get you out of the way for a while. Rather like your own sons." The miko phantom, had she been alive and more animatedly expressive that was custom during her original era, she might of snorted derisively.

"Lets go for a walk Grandpa," Takara almost begged.

"Walk, gampa," Shin offered his support in what passed for his version of truncated speech.

Kikyou was right in that neither pup really wanted to spend time with their grand-sire. He wasn't exactly a figure they associated much affection with. Ties of blood meant very little when not reinforced by ties of true familial affection.

As their mother did, the pups would continue to attempt to include the grandfather in all the milestones of their life generally shared with family, but their efforts would barely be half-hearted by the time the major events of life were reached.

"You stand a cross-roads, Taishou," Kikyou carefully explained to him. "Your choice here will decide forever after your placement in your family circle. You can either be an active and truly acknowledged part of it, or you can be an outsider invited to events merely out of duty rather than affection."

"What would you know of affection?" the Taishou snarled. Most of the older didn't trust miko phantoms that were allowed to run around too much. Some of them had actually met them during their original life time. While Inu no Taishou had not been, nor had he personally met Kikyou during hers, he was well aware of the fact that Kikyou had been the death of Inuyasha once, someone she had supposedly loved at the time.

"I had very little family through most of my life due to early youkai raids," Kikyou declared blandly. "but I did have a younger sister. When I was chosen to train as a miko, I made sure to bring her with me and my sister made sure I was never alone. When I traveled as part of my training, I ensured she was allowed to travel with me and she made sure to enliven the dullest stretches of the road. When I was asked to settle in a village temporarily to settle an issue with some errant youkai, I made certain there was adequate welcome for my sister as well and my sister made certain what ever hovel we were assigned use of was dressed in the prettiest flowers she could find. It was home wherever we were together and that's as it should be. And it was more than most miko of the time could have. When she was of an age to marry, I saw to it that her choice of husband could care for and keep her happily and when I died she saw to it that I was properly seen to and honored by my family."

"Had I not, she most likely would not have survived to adulthood. Even if she had, she would have died early in her marriage to a man who cared nothing for her beyond her ability to produce more children to work his fields, fields she herself would have had to work. She would have been starved, broken, uncared for, and a mere shade of what she was allowed to be because I cared for her. I protected her no matter how busy I was. She was my family as I was hers," Kikyou declared.

"I care for my family!" The Taishou declared indignantly. Did she not see how he kept them housed and fed and -

"Wrong," Kikyou cut him off mid-thought. "You take care of them, you do not care for them. Or if you do you have a lousy way of showing it. Your granddaughter asked you to take a walk with her, to spend time with her. When was the last time any of your kin asked for that? When did they last ask to spend time with you? Or do they avoid you, brush you aside, ignore you when you're present beyond making sure you're invited to family things because it is the right thing to do rather than because they genuinely desire you to share in any part of their lives?"

The Inu no Taishou stopped short and blinked. He remembered Inuyasha asking for some of his time when the boy was three but he'd been busy with some issue he could no longer recall. Sesshoumaru had never asked for such a thing, often giving the Taishou the impression the boy had felt oppressed by his presence rather than comforted or excited to see him.

Loathe as he was to admit it, the miko phantom may well have a point. And so, the Taishou swallowed audibly and allowed himself to be dragged on a walk with his grandpups, away from the house he'd been so eager to reach and that drink which would have served no other purpose than to flagrantly fly in the face of Kagome's house rules. He had been rather like a spoiled pup lately, hadn't he?


	40. Ch 39 Attacking Minivans

I've actually been trying to get this chapter out for the last four chapters. I could never seem to get it right so I changed my approach and put out all the last chapters. finally I looked at this problem and decided to attack it sideways and came up with something completely off the wall. but it works. I think I get my point across, or rather the one I was trying for. I would also like to thank my reviewer for the last chapter. The Taishou's thought processes were a bit difficult for me to get down. It was nice to find I was successful, otherwise I'm writing in a blank space. Truly I know no one else to tell me those things. None of my friends ever read what I write (it's something I've learned over the years. They all say they're interested, I send them the material and they sit on it without reading it for years. I'm serious.)

My one friend actually told me that fanfiction is the lowest form of writing, so I sent her something original I'm trying to write. She still hasn't gotten back to me about the last four chapters. so really, without your feedback I'm shooting in the dark. And by feedback, I merely mean letting me know if a chapter was successful or not. If not I can go back an fix it. I'm finding a lot more typos are getting into my final chapters these days, but I don't have time to find them until months after they've been posted. It's fairly embarrassing, but true.

I bet even Rumiko Takahashi got feedback in the early days of each Manga she created. and when she was producing them there was a team helping her to ink, etc. It's not the same for me, there is no team, just me. and as slowly as I'm cranking out most of these chapters, I generally don't have much time to read them over before the pressure to post them overwhelms me. I don't like how long the gaps between chapters tend to be either.

Enjoy!...Yes this is Chapter 39 of Wild. I promise!

**Attacking Minivans**

Cassidy glared at her rear view mirror, tightening her already white knuckled grip as once again, Devin reached over to take a swipe at his twin brother Donovan resulting in the fairly explosive outburst of "Mom! he's touching me!" The sound added an extra edge to the pounding in her poor abused head and ear drums.

Cassidy was fairly certain she had never really wanted kids of her own when she was a little girl. She'd wanted the career her mother had and the respect her father commanded. There had been some desire to find a lover and be wed, in the little girl belief that such was a requirement for happiness. And really, she couldn't complain there. She'd found Lloyd and she did love him, she reminded herself even as she cursed him for gifting her with their horrendous brood of brats. He was fine, most of the time.

And she supposed if she was going to be really honest probably, in the abstract way of children that desired to emulate their parents, she'd wanted one child too. But four was far too many for her to have ever wanted. The oldest was Lloyd Jr. and he had been such a calm and temperate little darling – when he wasn't surrounded by his rather exhausted siblings – they'd felt no fear in making a decision to go for a second one. That was rather where things went wrong.

Instead of producing just one, she birthed the twins from hell. She loved them, she just found it terribly difficult to love them when they were in trouble, and they were _always_ getting into some kind of trouble. It was pure insanity induced folly that had lead to her last pregnancy and while Maeve was more like Lloyd Jr, Cassidy hadn't had the time she wanted to really enjoy having such a darling baby girl since she'd been released from the hospital. Right now the three month old infant was cooing to herself and laughing at Lloyd Jr. making faces at her.

And because Cassidy was still on maternity leave she had been relegated to perform the once a week torture trips to the grocery store to feed the family from hell. Or rather the bratty toddler twins from hell and the two almost angels that were her other two kids. They'd really be angels if they could get Donovan and Devin to quiet down and fall asleep as they so desperately needed to do for their mommy's aching head.

Normally it wasn't quite this bad. But the portable DVD player batteries had died on the way to store and Cassidy fully blamed her husband for not charging it last night like he was supposed to. If the batteries had been properly charged she would've only had to put up with the noise for fifteen minutes before some movie or other would have sufficiently distracted all the kids – except Maeve – from how tired they weren't so that they could fall completely unconscious. With luck it would be something with a decent amount of music in it so that she could sing along the rest of the way home to de-stress before having to wake everybody up to get everything into the house.

But No, Lloyd had been too busy to bother plugging in the stupid battery to her only salvation and so she sat here, grinding her teeth and dreaming of migraine pills and bubble baths. It was enough to make her wish her dear husband would finally get laid off like his CEOs had been threatening for months so that she would have to go back to work and he would get to suffer this torment instead. The jerk!

"Mom, mom, mom, mo-om!" broke into her momentary foray into that particularly satisfying vision of revenge and she slammed rather abruptly on the brakes without fear of causing a fender bender. They did live on a dead end road and were nearly home after all.

"What is it, and it better be bleeding, unconscious or eating a hole through the carpet or you will be standing in a corner until dinner!" She almost growled as she spun around to level a fearsome glare on all of her offspring, the little holy terrors. The next time her spouse even suggested something remotely likely to create any more of these monsters he'd find himself bloody in very uncomfortable places. "Now what was so important you had to scream at me while I'm driving?" The sudden silence was a very welcome reprieve for her poor head.

Lloyd Jr. looked near tears before he finally answered her question tremulously, "I ju-just wanted you to know that Maeve said Lo-Lo." Her sensitive boy's eyes were shiny and she could tell she'd been out of line. He'd seen how they'd all reacted when the twins had said their first words (though she wasn't quite certain "Lo-Lo" counted as a word) and he wanted to be sure she didn't miss Maeve's. He was trying to be considerate because he knew such things were important.

Cassidy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Maeve certainly wasn't going to repeat what she'd "said" now as the baby girl was obviously working herself up into a good cry, upset by the sudden tension in the air. Knowing she had to do it if she ever wanted her boys to learn proper behavior, Cassidy took another deep breath before speaking, "I am sorry Lloyd, I lost my temper."

As a mother, Cassidy firmly believed in leading by example and when you were wrong, you apologized simple as that. "Thank you for telling me, honey," her smile was slightly tight as right under her watching eyes Donovan reached out and tapped Devin back. "But it would have been better to wait until the car was stopped. It isn't safe to distract the driver while the car is in motion all right." Her last comment was directed sharply, with a slightly lighter glare, at the two terrors still misbehaving.

Lloyd Jr. swallowed tightly, blinking his eyes rapidly before nodding, "Okay, mom."

Cassidy sighed, "Mommy's just tired. It'd be best if we were all quiet until we get home."

"Yes, mom," Lloyd Jr replied more solidly and offered his younger brothers a pointed glare of his own. It was their fault mom had yelled at him for no reason after all. It was also clear to him that she really wanted them to be quiet more than him, but he would be quiet anyway to set a good example. Daddy always told him to set a good example for all the rest.

Lloyd Jr. reached over the side of Maeve's car seat to offer her a finger to grasp as a form of comfort, he cupped her other hand to comfort himself. Maeve was the only sibling worth playing with most of the time anyway. Besides, she was good about being quiet so long as somebody was paying a little bit of attention to her and while mom was driving, Lloyd Jr. had elected himself to be the one to do it.

Cassidy turned back around to start the last small, miniscule leg of the trip home in moderate quiet. Donovan and Devin were certainly not being quiet, but they weren't being nearly as bad as they had been and she wanted to get the car back to the house before they had time to wind themselves back up to the full scale noise they typically perpetuated against her.

Five minutes later she had the family car parked in the drive and unbuckled her seat belt, she quickly maneuvered around the outside of the car to push the button to open the sliding door on the side releasing all of her children from the confines of the back and into the yard. Cassidy reached in to lift out Maeve's carrier from the base belted to the seat. "All right," Cassidy called as she opened the hatch on the back after closing the side door. "Everybody grab something and go in the house."

Lloyd Jr. grabbed a loaded down canvas bag and headed into the house following his mom who stood carrying Maeve's carrier and unlocking the door to the kitchen. Even he knew Donovan and Devin would each grab one thing out of a bag to carry into the house. They were always finding ways to get out of doing their share of things.

The screen door slammed shut behind the twins as they raced to deposit a plastic jar of spaghetti sauce and a bottle ketchup in the kitchen before escaping to the den. Cassidy set the baby carrier on the counter before lifting Maeve from the seat to set in the playpen setup next to the table. "Lloyd will you keep an eye on your sister for me while I go get the rest of the groceries?"

Lloyd Jr. nodded and sat down on the floor beside the pen and started making faces at Maeve to keep her occupied.

Cassidy smiled gently before turning and walking back out the door, the screen banging after like all screen doors on country houses seemed to do. Strangely enough the noise wasn't bothering her headache too much at the moment. She dismissed the thought with a shoulder loosening shrug.

Now all she had to do was get all the rest of the groceries into the house and put away then she could put the devil twins down for a nap, set Lloyd Jr. up with one of his videos, and she could have quiet until her dear spouse came home and she could take a nap of her own, or take a long bath. At the moment she couldn't decide which sounded more wonderful.

She sighed at the dilemma she faced as she rounded the rear of the car to unload the food...

...And whimpered. Cassidy blinked at the empty space where the rest of her groceries should be and felt rather like crying. Violently.

He had discovered the noisy beasts that stuck mainly to treading in their strange fashion over the uniquely hard rivers he had only encountered outside the wild usually served to transport things. Most often it was nonferals and other creatures of debatable importance, but occasionally they transported more important things like food.

He was no fool. He was well aware a Feral that hunted on ground outside the wild was very quickly a dead Feral. The same was true if a Feral was seen, so he made certain to remain hidden, a task made difficult in many of the areas he'd crossed, but not impossible when he was dealing with these half-blind nonferal creatures. And it was obvious it was limited to the nonferals on two legs alone, for all the animals he'd had momentary brushes with had quickly sensed him and sought to either escape his threat or alert those in the vicinity of his presence. Their efforts had proven useless so he'd generally let them live.

It was rather a fun game hunting the smelly conveyances with food in them. Most of the food he was finding in this strange land didn't smell like proper food due to the extraordinarily impermeable coverings they were wrapped in.

It added a level of difficulty that would have otherwise been completely absent on these hunts. The beasts transporting things were fairly noxious and difficult to miss and hardly untrackable. It was only a couple moons ago that he'd managed to catch an exceptionally large one that was strangely colder inside than it was outside. It had been filled with foodstuff. Unfortunately he had nearly been trapped inside it and then discovered so he'd taken to limiting himself to smaller catches. It wasn't as if a new wasn't just down the path anyway. There was no shortage of possible game.

If he wasn't Feral he might have been tempted to stay and exploit this reality. But he was and all he was after was the only worthy female he knew of. She was alive somewhere in this wide world beyond the wilds and she was surviving it somehow.

He was convinced that if he could survive it then she certainly could as well, though he had no idea where she was just yet. He only had the initial burst of youki to guide him and that had been moons ago. But if he was still alive then so was she.

He carefully sorted through his latest catch searching for the edible, nutritious bits amidst all the flotsam of uselessness that prey animals might eat if they could be convinced of its content despite the unfamiliar shapes. He growled to himself as he realized most of what was present was of the wrong type. He'd have been better off swiping one of the tiny nonferal creatures out of the yard and eating that.

He leaned back and pondered the reality of this situation. Apparently he'd swiped a load of food meant for grass eaters. Really, no self-respecting predator would consume most of this stuff. It wasn't until he got down to the bottom of the last sack that he discovered the stash of meat he was looking for. Really what was that female thinking trying to raise her young on so much unnatural smelling stuff. Such couldn't be healthy. He could only hope that his female was equally aware of this.

He imagined it wasn't too much of an issue. She was feral after all.

His claws dug sharply into the clear surface covering the read meat before carefully removing most of it. He'd learned quickly the clear stuff was not something conducive to a pleasant dining experience. It generally gave him indigestion and the meat tasted better with out it.

In the wild he might have risked a fire in his den to roast the meat, but he wasn't in the wild. This was foreign, dangerous ground and he was in transit so he made do without. It wasn't important that he cook it. In fact he barely cooked it there, it just tasted better with a brown exterior on it.

Once he'd finished off the worthwhile contents of his catch, he straightened up and gave a quick once over of his latest prey, noting the arrival of a second beast beside the first.

It always surprised him when the nonferals seemed to panic after the contents of the beasts went missing like that. Right now an obviously newly arrived male was rocking the stricken female that had been standing behind the wide open hind end of the beast he'd just raided, apparently attempting to offer some form of comfort.

It really had nothing to do with him, so he turned and headed into the silver twilight swiftly dropping over the area. He had a female to find and a new meal to look out for and it was rare for a second meal to turn up in the same place as a previous one. At least within the time he allowed to hold him in one place. The world was an expansive place and he had quite a bit of it left to search for the bitch to produce his future pups. Such a search could never be abandoned for long. Continuity was the aim and he – as well as she – were getting up there in age for Ferals. As it was, he'd be lucky to get one litter out of her before her luck ran out on her.


	41. Ch 40 Juvenile Delinquent

Whoa, have I lost anyone? Probably. this saddens me, but I really can't complain about it. It's my own fault for not updating sooner.

I've found that a certain delicate balance in my life it required to write decent chapters and when I'm overly stressed out, well...two months go by without a post. But I'm not really interested in talking about that as I'm sure you're all tired of hearing lame excuses as I am of having to give them. Instead, I want to talk about...

Halloween! It's coming up and I'm certainly planning to enjoy it! I'm makin cupcakes to take to work, more because I liked the decorating designs I found than because I want to be nice to my coworkers. There aren't too many of them at work that I'm willing to go there for, but I'd really hate myself for eating an entire cake mix worth of cupcakes plus candy and cookie decorations for myself. And I'm serious about this. I'm making bats and spiders! the spiders consist of an oreo cookie for the body and shoelace licorice (or pull-apart licorice) cut to size for the legs. I'm going to make eyes using some red, sparkling gel icing I bought for the bats. the bats are a bit different. the cupcake itself is the body and the wings are fudge striped cookies cut in half and stabbed in the top with the head being a chocolate kiss. I had to do them. It was a moral imperative!

I'm also going to dress up this year too. I'm going to be a Gangaster Moll, because that's the way things fell out this year. I even talked some of my second family into dressing up too. It'll be fun. I have to figure out what I want to carve on my pumpkin this year. Last year I did spiders to go with my yard spider and spider lights and general yard motif. this year I have no yard or house. (I lent the spider to my second family. that thing is sooooooo cool.)

Anyways, this chapter gives us a taste of what a Feral Alpha might do to punish a pack member in need of correcting, that is, if the Feral in question even had a pack to correct.

I guess standard disclaimers apply to the actual chapter 'n stuff.

**Juvenile Delinquent**

Akemi raised a speaking eyebrow at the information that had just been imparted to her while the young male caught by the collar of his attire squirmed about in his mother's hands.

This – she didn't know a suitable word for such heathenized spawn – mere boy had been terrorizing various members of her pack at every opportunity due to what his father carelessly termed harmless mischief. She termed it ignorant cruelty. Apparently, no one who lived up at the big house was safe as the pup – child, she corrected herself, was prone to acting against even his most ardent supporters.

He was a bully in the simplest terms she understood, but more so because he knew better. More than one person had attempted to correct his behavior using methods as diverse as the members of her pack. Nothing had sunk in over the course of the several months that her pack had been exposed to it whilst living in the Taishou's monstrous house.

Now, it had seemingly been decided that Akemi, his alpha, was to deal with it. Which is what should have happened almost from the start.

Setting aside the reality that the little brat's numerous transgressions should have been, at the very least, relayed to her as basic information due to an alpha for her to know and anticipate if not to directly correct, Akemi now had to devise at the last moment a fitting instructional punishment for a child. Which would be exceptionally tricky given her inexperience with young beyond the newborn state. Rin and Shippou were being raised more by the pack at large than just by her really. This would be a new experience. But it had to be done.

A little forewarning would have been welcomed, especially as the parents stood before her almost as nervous about trusting her with the well-being of their son as she was to assume the necessary responsibility of it. They feared the damage she could cause their precious progeny beyond the physical and truthfully, she was too.

Akemi nearly snorted. Precious indeed. This little whelp was the reason she was spending more time soothing spontaneously born new fears instead of making headway healing older hurts. All because the unchecked cruelty of this child found the grown youkai's reactions humorous. In a normal situation with emotionally healthy subjects, his actions would ordinarily be harmless. But this was the Broken Pack.

She supposed it made the boy feel superior in a way she did not approve. Nor would any other youkai with a lick of sense. Of course, if the boy were youkai, this never would have happened as even a non-feral youkai parent wouldn't have allowed it. Part of that, Akemi was certain, rested at some fault of his parents, specifically the ignorance of the father as he was most often responsible for the boy's care.

But this moment wasn't about mending their parenting styles. It wasn't even the time to address their tardiness in divulging the true nature of the trouble Akemi was addressing nearly everyday.

And it wasn't her job to see that the little hoodlum developed into a well-rounded, fully functioning member of society. She wasn't his parent or guardian. Something she was finding herself fervently thankful for.

She may have taken in a kitsune, a species widely known for being pranksters, but Shippou was never cruel and never pranked a pack member he wasn't absolutely certain could handle the joke. He had been raised up proper where his human counterpart had obviously not been. The little kit's tricks may have annoyed many and embarrassed some, but never did his targets run away in terror or questioning their own sanity the way they did from this little human male's version of tricks.

It wasn't Akemi's job to fix the brat's sense of humor.

It was, however, her responsibility as alpha of his greater pack to correct any of his transgressions against the pack as a whole. Her task was to teach him to live in, if not completely in harmony with his greater pack, then at least a healthy symbiosis.

And Akemi had her work cut out for her as she watched Hiro continue to squirm under her silent gaze. For even now he showed no signs of remorse, or even any anxiety for having been caught. Rather he was annoyed at being detained against his will. "Why do you attack the weaker members of our pack?" Akemi asked bluntly, surprising Sango and Miroku a the simple question. Plainly, no one had thought to see if there was a real reason for his recurring misbehavior.

How imperceptive of them.

Hiro snorted derisively and with an insistent jerk against the grip holding him in place, he relented to answer her inquiry more fully. "They ain't my pack," the boy scoffed. "They're just a bunch of scaredy girls."

Akemi blinked mildly, "They are my pack as are you. Therefore they are your pack as well."

"I am not your pack!" the brat exclaimed heatedly.

"Hiro!" Sango scolded her boy. "Show Akemi some respect! She is our alpha-"

"No she's not!" Hiro scowled, rudely interrupting his mother who gave him a promising glare. She would certainly have punished him for his lip if they were not currently wasting Akemi's time. "She's your alpha, not mine! I don't even know why you would decide to let this crazy Feral be the boss of you, but she's not the boss of me!" Nobody had asked him if he would even allow it to begin with. Why were they acting so surprised that he hadn't accepted it? Just because they said so didn't mean anything.

Why should he pay any attention to this new alpha he'd never laid eyes on before when he'd never paid any mind to the alpha they'd had before?

Without warning, Akemi moved faster than the humans could see. By the time their slow eyes caught up with events, she was several yards away with a firm grip on Hiro's clothing, having usurped Sango's hold. She kept him squirming with unease suspended above the ground as she continued to move deeper into the shielded territory that protected the house that Sesshoumaru built.

Normally, when she headed this direction, Akemi was looking to enter the den and find some form of repose. Instead the feral inu strode around the side of the building to the back where the walls butted up against the smallish wilderness that surrounded most of the rolling Taishou property.

Akemi had not had cause to trespass on the fragile balance such a tiny forest would support since her first arrival months ago. But she had always been conscious of its existence and proximity, and somewhat familiar with their contents.

This little section of the wild managed to support a fair amount of wild life and Wild youkai and even a handful of Feral youkai. She supposed, if she were a youkai on the verge of going Feral with no other options, she could do worse than to settle in such a tiny tract of land. Although, she personally preferred having greater space to move without risk of encountering the non-feral world. At least when she wasn't already living in it.

At the moment, she wasn't concerned with taking up residence in it or disturbing the Ferals who already called this forest home. But she did have a point to get across to the little snot terrorizing her pack.

The boy had rejected her as alpha and the others as pack, which told her he wasn't being cruel to his family because he didn't believe they were family. He saw them as intruders and strangers and was, in a way, fighting to remove them from what he perceived as his space. The fact that Hiro had never been able to enter the building at the edge of the Taishou properties prevented his feeling the need to do so to her and those that lived there with her. He had never bothered to prank her – which would have ended badly for him – or the pups she had taken in to live there for it couldn't be his territory.

The lesson to be taught here was her dominance and possession of the territory Hiro had believed to be his own. Akemi needed to prove that she was alpha, his living among her pack was her prerogative, and her leniency would only extend to members that acknowledged her right to _be_ lenient or strict. She was determined that he would also learn to respect the fears of her pack before she was through.

If she had intended to hunt or to teach him to hunt, her chances of success were shot to hell before ever entering the tree-line by the constant stream of inconsequential demands delivered by the strident six year old. Hiro didn't shut up even to breath until she dropped him carelessly to the ground without a word.

"What do you think you're doing?" the boy demanded of her. "Take me back!" The little human cub had the gall to stamp his foot at the end of his imperious words.

Akemi stared at him and coolly rebuffed his foolish would-be commands, "i am not a pack mule." Her voice held no notes of frustration or anger as it was merely a statement of fact and she was well aware of the non-feral habit of manipulation.

"Take me back!" he demanded again, his ire building quickly, even for a child his age.

"No," Akemi repulsed him before turning to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To see to my pack," she replied. Despite Akemi's belief that it should be more than obvious she intended to leave him here, she supposed non-ferals of all species needed to have their observations supported by the words.

"You can't just leave me here!" Hiro insisted, secure in the reality that even a Feral had to be aware of this simple fact. When she failed to even pause, he rolled his eyes at her stupidity. "My mom will exterminate you if you do," he called after her.

This time Akemi did pause and turned back to give him a fairly bland look. "Perhaps, but then, you would still be somewhere lost out here and she wouldn't know where."

Hiro blinked at her, he hadn't thought of that, but then he decided his mom would just force her to bring him back before killing the feral. He snorted, "Nuh-uh, She'd just make you come get me first!"

"Why?" Akemi asked him pointedly. "She handed you over to me for damaging my pack. A threat to my pack is mine to deal with, as she has proven herself aware of. You declared yourself not of my pack therefore you are little more than a threat to be removed completely from anywhere near those in my care. As the exterminator's alpha she cannot interfere."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Hiro protested at the injustice of it. "They're just a bunch of wimps!"

"Indeed," the Feral lifted an eyebrow even as she rubbed a clawed hand down her back to ease the ache of standing so long this far into her pregnancy. "Their responsible and paranoid fears of going Feral and being forced to live in the wild make them wimps, do they? Their perpetual search of the signs of falling over the edge that make them so susceptible to your cruelty makes them too weak for your consideration?" Akemi slanted a serious glare over her charge, "I think I would rather force the exterminator to kill before I allow you anywhere near the members of my pack again."

"Since you hold no fear for the things that terrify them, you should be fine surviving on your own in the Feral and predator infested wild, exposed to the elements, all alone with only the trees to comfort you." Akemi turned once more to depart.

"Fine then," Hiro scowled. "Go ahead and leave. See how long you last before my mom gets you for this!" He harrumphed as the feral suddenly disappeared from his sight. He'd be home by lunchtime if he knew his parents. Dad would wheedle and charm everybody until he got his way and if that didn't work before his mom had enough, she would use brute force to achieve her purpose. Some might be able to withstand his dad's special magic, but his mom took Feral youkai down for breakfast. And she loved him. That stupid Akemi wouldn't stand a chance when his mom found out that she'd abandoned him in the forest.

At least, she wouldn't have if Sango ever got the chance to know what was being done to her baby, Akemi mused. But Akemi had no intention of leaving the brat alone in the wilderness regardless of the barriers in place to keep out youkai and human intruders for any sliver of time.

The human cub was vulnerable enough that even mere animal predators would cause him considerable harm very quickly. Even if he stayed within the barrier, he still had to worry about those. With the dull senses of a regular human, he could easily be spooked into running by natural forest sounds. Running too far in any direction would take him from the miko's brand of marginal protection and leave him free for the youkai inhabitants to attack him.

Akemi leaned back against the trunk of the tree she'd chosen to perch in while watching her charge. Jumping up into the branches had been an interesting undertaking with the added weight of her developing pups, shortchanging her regular grace, but her purpose had been achieved so that all she needed to do was sit back and wait for the boy to learn his lessons.

She doubted it would take long to inspire the necessary respect for the danger her pack feared to cure his ignorant cruelty and lead him to understand that he needed pack to survive. Hopefully such a realization would extend to help acknowledge the need of an alpha and all that goes into keeping a pack intact, but she wouldn't hold her breath. Such a lesson would require more than one application and hopefully the exterminator could achieve the same goal with different tactics.

But for now, Akemi simply watched the six year old boy throw a monumental tantrum worthy of some special award in obnoxiousness. She wondered if her own pups would be so given to wasting energy like that.


	42. Ch 41 Sins of the Father

It's amazing what can be accomplished when you forget the battery for your laptop somewhere else. This chapter was written the way used to write my stories, by hand on paper. I got out of the habit a while back when I got so far behind in keeping up with the posting schedule of this fic, and I really think I lost something when I did that because it used to be my editting process to type it all up from my composition books.

Anyway, I just want to say thank you to the one reviewer I had from a few days ago. It's caused me to notice just how silent my readership has been in this latest effort. Reminds me somewhat of the beginning of _Chronicles of the Fall_. It might just be the genre I write for, but this is the first fic I don't have at least one review for the number of chapters I've posted. What really strikes me as funny is that nearly all of the reviews make noise about how much they love it and then the reader practically disappears. heh.

Anyway, as usual, the Inuyasha cast belong to Rumiko Takahashi but everyone else...they're mine.

**Sins of the Father**

Miroku shifted anxiously next to his wife as they continued to stare in the direction their only son had disappeared in with the Feral youkai that was their alpha. "Was this really a good idea?" he murmured to himself.

"It was the only thing to do," Sango assured herself as much as her husband sternly as she turned to walk away from the barrier's edge to lead up to the big house where Kagome was waiting. There were no council sessions today, so they had plans to look into the necessaries needed to set up a medical clinic somewhere in the building after accomplishing all of the chores required to keep a pack of this size going. They wanted it to be complete enough to negate any member of the pack having to go to the hospital before Akemi went into labor. Dr. Chorin was scheduled to drop by some time during the day to look over their plans and give her medical opinion.

"What if she hurts him?" the unconventional monk demanded, fearful for his progeny. It was a common fear felt by every parent that ever was.

"She would be within her right," Sesshoumaru growled unsympathetically. He was upset by this morning's events in more ways than one. "She would be within her right to punish you as well." Which was true. Hell, Sesshoumaru was tempted to act on her behalf and do it himself right now.

"He's just a boy," Miroku tried to argue against the seriousness of the situation.

"Which means he needs to be taught, Miroku, and taught right," Sango rebuked him. "By letting him get away with his behavior and failing to inform our alpha of a developing problem, we neglected to do that. Instead, we taught him the wrong lesson."

Miroku blinked, "It was only a bunch of pranks."

"Wrong, monk," Sesshoumaru sharply corrected him. "The kitsune are pranksters and even a child of their ilk wouldn't take part in your brat's antics."

"Youkai do not look down on honest mischief, Miroku," Sango added. "But what Hiro does would upset any youkai appraised of it."

"Where's Hiro?" Shippou ran up to them from the house looking for his friend. His face fresh with boyish energy and eagerness for the new day. It was doing him good to be part of the pack, even if they were mostly broken and hurting.

"Being disciplined by his alpha," Sesshoumaru answered.

Shippou nodded in acceptance. It was bound to happen eventually. The Kit was only surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

"Shippou," Sango addressed the boy gently. "Perhaps you can help me explain something to Miroku."

"I'll try," Shippou shrugged as he moved to stand beside Sesshoumaru. The kit looked up at the taller youkai until the big inu raised an eyebrow at him, before allowing the smaller to slip a clawed hand up to grasp his own. Shippou was offering his alpha's beta silent support as he would offer the alpha in the beta's absence.

"Would you say that Hiro's tricks are simply pranks, Shippou?" Sango asked the little kitsune refusing to remark on the physical gesture between kit and inu. A healthy pack was always doing such, the fact that the Taishou pack never had before Akemi's returned was a reflection on the Inu no Taishou's failure to be the alpha the pack needed.

Shippou blinked up at the slayer incredulously. "No. If I did what Hiro has my pa would've drowned me in hot water and soap," the kit shook his head violently. "He believed pure meanness could be cleaned out of a soul if he scrubbed hard enough. Kind of like humans and bad language."

"So Hiro's pranks are mean?" Sango asked purposely for clarification.

"Actually," Shippou considered the question seriously as any kitsune would the subject of mischief, "My ma would have said they're more cruel than just mean." Shippou glanced up at the inu for the validating nod of agreement which he received.

"Cruel? Isn't that a bit too much?" Miroku protested.

"Not really," It was Shippou who replied as if the monk had asked a serious question. "If Hiro did what he does to a bunch of regular youkai who know to expect tricks or could at least trust that their minds weren't making it up, it might be funny and just honest mischief. He might even get away with pulling his tricks on the Broken Pack, if he wasn't in the same pack and wasn't already aware they were hurt."

"Because he knows that they're the Broken Pack and they are in the same pack," Sango clarified for her willfully obtuse mate, "youkai would invariably consider Hiro's antics as cruel on par with the bastards who first hurt the girls."

"Surely not as bad as that," Miroku weakly refused to believe it.

"She's right," Shippou nodded although he hardly knew what had really been done to the broken pack. He was very young, but he knew they were hurt to the point of being afraid of going Feral. You didn't pick on a youkai that was that close to escaping into the wild. If you did, you wound up with more Feral youkai that, for the most part, posed a threat to society when trapped within it.

"But Hiro hasn't actually hurt any of the girls," Miroku pointed out firmly.

"Miroku, he locked his sisters in a closet risking suffocation just yesterday, and they do everything he asks of him," Sango contradicted him.

"But they were fine," Miroku argued back.

"And when do we teach him its wrong to endanger his sisters lives?" Sango demanded. "When he's managed to successfully kill one of them?"

"Aren't you blowing this way out of proportion?" Miroku desperately tried to reason with his wife.

"No," Sesshoumaru answered bluntly. "Every older more able member of the pack is responsible to help protect every younger less capable member. It is how packs better support their members. Even the Broken Pack uses this system."

"So you're telling me the ablest and oldest member of the Broken Pack is a Feral female baring a litter of pups?" Miroku snorted in disbelief. Sango was more capable than the half crazy Feral youkai. Kagome was more able to cater to the packs needs and whims.

"Yes, actually," Sango answered her husband. "And she has already more the proved it to everybody but Hiro, the Inu no Taishou, and possibly you." The last was coming as a bit of a shock to her. The Inu no Taishou was a fool, Hiro had the excuse of youth, but she hadn't believed Miroku to be on the same level as the other two. She hadn't had a reason to consider before now that Miroku, and Hiro for that matter, hadn't already accepted the installation of Akemi as alpha of the greater pack they had joined. If she'd known she would have seen to it the children were left in Inuyasha's care rather than their father's. As it was, she was fearful she may have to rethink keeping Miroku as a spouse.

Sango would not leave the pack and her loyalty would always be to Akemi because she could trust Akemi and she owed her. If Miroku failed to accept paying the same allegiance to her alpha because she was Feral, then Sango needed to think hard about just what would be best for the pack. With a sigh, the slayer realized she may have to bring it up with Akemi when the Feral got back from what ever she was doing with her son.

"It didn't seem she had to prove it to anyone at all," Miroku commented drily. Struggles of dominance he could understand, if Akemi had fought her way to the alpha position he'd have completely comprehended the situation. But the Feral had simply stepped out of the wild and instantly been installed as the pack alpha.

"She didn't need to," Sango snorted at her husband's stupidity. Being alpha wasn't just about being strong or oppressing others. "When she first arrived she had already proved it because she survived being Feral. More than that, she moved past her trauma to allow a male close enough to sire her pups. Name one other pack member who has done the same."

"There are none because nobody has ever come back from being Feral," Sango answered for him not leaving it open for him to make a mistake.

"Maybe, but that Feral now has our son, and no other Youkai returning from being Feral might just prove that it can't be done," Miroku retorted.

"She's not going to eat him, Miroku," Sango remarked over Sesshoumaru's snarl of displeasure. "I may have preferred she didn't have to use such strong methods, but that's our fault for failing to tell her about it sooner."

"How could you possibly say it's our fault that Feral dragged our son into the woods?" the monk scoffed unwilling to accept the possibility.

"Because her lesson now has to overcome the false truth you taught him by letting him continue in his behavior," Sesshoumaru growled as he sent Shippou ahead of them into the big house. "Your son must unlearn what the past several months have taught him. It requires stronger teaching to first unlearn a bad habit before installing a new correct one in its place. And the boy being your son will be very reluctant to swallow his true reality as the one he's created suits his fancy more."

Sango sighed and paused before leading the way into the house. "Well, now we have to deal with the result of Miroku's misguided efforts to protect Hiro."

"Oh so this is all my fault," Miroku grumbled.

"Yes, it is," Sango glared at him. "You didn't just hide Hiro's behavior from Akemi, you hid it from me, Miroku! And the only reason you finally told me the true details of his unruliness is because Inuyasha threatened to tell Akemi in our place!"

"You knew-" Miroku began.

"I knew Hiro played what you called 'pranks', not what those pranks actually consisted of or even who his targets were," Sango cut him off. "You never bothered to tell me that!"

"You didn't ask-"

"That's because I trusted my husband to know the difference between harmless mischief and cruelty!" Sango hissed. "I trusted that even if you didn't know the difference, you would listen to Inuyasha when he expressed his concerns the same as Inuyasha trusted you to talk to me about them."

"You expected me to take advice from Inuyasha?" Miroku Blinked. "Really, _Inuyasha_?" He simply couldn't fathom how anybody could expect him to take Inuyasha's advice about anything. The hanyou wasn't exactly the wisest of people.

Sesshoumaru seized a tight handful of the monk's shirt before hauling him up against the nearest wall. "You do him a disservice, fool. Inuyasha may be only hanyou and occasionally very rash, but he has never and will never hurt the pack! Do not so malign him again!"

Sango stood behind Sesshoumaru and made no move to free her husband. "You don't understand Miroku. Inuyasha is the best person in the pack to help you integrate into the inu pack and establish your role successfully. And he knows it, he takes his role very seriously."

"What role?" Miroku demanded, his hands grasping at the claws slowly ripping holes in one of his favorite shirts.

"He is your translator Miroku," Sango sighed. "Inuyasha's the only one t think you needed things explained. I didn't make the connection because you always seemed to know everything in your clandestine, sneaky way of listening to everything. I didn't think I'd need to explain a lot of things because I've learned all of it since I was a kid and Akemi adopted me into the pack. I've worked and lived with and around youkai, most closely with inu, all my life. I never had to establish a position in the youkai world because I was born into one. Half the things you don't know or don't understand surprise me even now."

"I'm a monk," Miroku protested, religious figures always have an established role wherever they go.

"Yes," Sango acknowledged, "You are a monk ordained in an order that interacts very rarely with youkai beyond exorcisms and warding them off. You've never lived among them and neither had your senseis. Even Kagome couldn't anticipate your difficulties because, despite being very good at eavesdropping and collecting information, you always seem to miss the little nuances of youkai relationships that come naturally to her and myself. We both pick up on things you miss without even trying and it just floors us that you didn't get it even when it's explained to you."

"They have a place," Sesshoumaru summarized succinctly. "It has been long established for them by custom and familiarity. Your place needs to be created yet."

"I am married to Sango," Miroku was flabbergasted. Surely that set his role and defined his place enough.

"That's not what he meant, Miroku," Sango snorted in frustrated annoyance. Really, she hadn't thought he could ever be that dense, he was too observant, surely. "Kagome and I are able to move in and with the pack because our roles were established long before we were born and we fit into those pre-existing roles. You are like Inuyasha was as a child, trying to create a place for yourself in the pack that has never had such a creatur in it before. This means that the pack and youkai in general do not know what needs to be explained to you and what does not."

"As a slayer addressing a human," Sesshoumaru explained for her. "She explains to you only what she would need to explain to another human who is not a slayer."

"Which does not include youkai and Feral behavior, because those are trade secrets only discussed with other slayers," Sango clarified.

"As a miko, Kagome thinks to explain to you only what she would explain to another human of holy rank," Sesshoumaru continued.

"Which again does not include pack dynamics because no other holy figure lives that closely to a pack like she does. And all the humans that do, already know it," Sango translated again.

"As youkai, the pack does not know what to explain to you. If you were a slayer, there would be no need to explain instinctive ranking positions, because you would already know them and the pack shows respect by not telling a slayer what the slayers pride themselves about already knowing. If you came from a holy order similar to Kagome's, they would not explain such things for the same reasons," Sesshoumaru concluded. "If you were simply a human outsider without holy or slayer connections, the pack would never let you close enough to need to explain such things."

"That you fit none of the above roles leaves a communication gape the pack doesn't exactly know how to fill or even that it needs filling," Sango added. "Inuyasha is the only one who saw it from the start and nobody else can take over that role as he is the only one who knows what you already know, what he's in the middle of teaching you, and fulfilling the job in the same style as he is. Another member of the pack might treat you like a pup, needing to learn everything, but being too immature to learn it all right away. They would keep some information from you the same as they would from very young pups. Or, seeing you as an adult, they might patronize you, treating you as they would someone who is mentally deficient for not already learning the same things the rest of the pack learned as young. And again they would keep certain information from you beleiving certain conecpts to require higher understanding than someone as stupid as you could ever achieve."

"Surely you exaggerate," Miroku scoffed.

"No I'm not!" Sango snapped, his refusal to accept this truth was getting on her nerves. "You should be grateful this pack has someone like Inuyasha in it to help you learn to live in the pack. Only Inuyasha sees the holes left in your education and tries to fill them without demeaning you," Sango added. "So when he tells you something, try to listen a little more seriously. He's trying to help you!"

Sesshoumaru finally released the fool despite his reluctance to do so. He needed an outlet for his strained nerves, but he was certain Akemi would be displeased if he took his upset out on any member of the pack. At least until she established an omega. There were very few packs that had one these days, and he doubted she would ever have cause to pick one. "For now, you will help us calm the anxiety raised by the alpha's forced absence today." It was only fair since Miroku had been somewhat directly involved in creating the situation.

Sango nodded, "Tensions are going to be riding high when she doesn't show today."

"It has never happened before and after last evening's quick escape to the house..." Sesshoumaru added. The Broken Pack seldom responded well to abrupt changes.

"I had forgotten about that," Sango blinked. "We'll be lucky if this doesn't cause some serious hysteria. Most of the pack practically live for the hand full of moments Akemi makes sure to spend with them everyday."

"It couldn't possibly be that bad," Miroku disagreed. "They've survived without Akemi before."

"I didn't think you were a complete and utter lack wit," a voice called down the hall. "Please let me kill him Sango, he's too stupid to live!"

"Miroku," Sango scolded his stupidity. "When did they supposedly survive Akemi's absence? Because if you're trying to bring up the period where Akemi was lost in the wilds, you're less observant than I thought you were!"

"Things are different now," Morenda nodded before reaching out to touch a hand to Sango's arm. "Akemi has returned to us. She returned to take care of us and heal us. She is the only one who has gone before us and the only one we allow ourselves to rely on to see us through. We trusted Kagome not to hurt us, we trusted her to protect us to the best of her ability because Akemi trusted her. But it's Akemi who brings us back to sanity and comforts us with the reality that even if we should fall, she will be there to catch us and there is a way to come back."

"Only Akemi," Sango agreed, "allows you to relax in your own skin and accept who you have become and hope that you will someday be something more."

The kuroneko nodded. "So Akemi's not coming?"

"Not likely today," Sesshoumaru answered gruffly, still a bit upset about the reality of it.

"Not at all?" Morenda's voice sounded a little tight.

"She's taking care of the Hiro problem," Sesshoumaru replied in answer.

Morenda's shoulders dropped in a sigh, "Not at all."

"Hey," Miroku cut in. "Hiro's not as slow as all that." The looks he received were flatly skeptical. "He's not," he protested weakly, Hiro really was highly intelligent...which was probably going to be part of the problem. Miroku sighed.


	43. Ch 42 Marching Madness

Cookies are backed, cards are made, and the newsletter is written. Looks like the holidays are in ful swing. How 'bout that?

Standard disclaimers apply. Have At!

**Marching Madness **

The sigh that escaped Kagome sent a gentle curl of steam wafting up from the cup of tea she held posed in front of her face creating a hazy veil across her view momentarily. Kagome was anxiously watching the scene unfold out on the lawn through the magnificent window some long ago Taishou had built into one of the three formal dining rooms. This one afforded a view across the back of the property which included the house snuggled against the ancient, snow covered trees of the pack's private wilderness. That was the house that Sesshoumaru built. The house that Akemi found refuge in. It had also come to be a symbol of sanity for the Broken Pack, which was probably one of the greatest cosmic jokes to date.

Only someone with a divine sense of humor could have possibly thought to place the sole means of an entire pack's sanity in the hands of a youkai who was, by definition, insane. But there you have it. The Feral Akemi was slowly working an invisible magic that was allowing the Broken Pack to relax enough that they could step back from the edge of insanity and finally recover from the events that pushed them there.

The miko could disconnect enough from the situation to see the humor in it although the reality of it all kept her from laughing about it. For now. Kagome was certain that some day, they would all look back on these days with a sense of accomplished amusement that simply couldn't be achieved at the moment.

Too many of the events that kept unfolding around her made it impossible to laugh about it now. One such event was revealing itself even now out on the white sheet that stretched from the mansion's back door all the way out to the woods. And the air was clear enough that Kagome could see the moment Akemi snatched up little Hiro and hauled him in the direction of the trees.

Unlike Sango, Kagome had been aware of the impending Hiro issue for quite a while. Inuyasha was exceptionally good at keeping her fully up to date with all the little difficulties and achievements concerning their kids. It was his way of keeping her in the loop when she couldn't be present to witness things for herself. For all that Miroku was a fount of information for the asking, the problem was, you had to ask and you had to ask the right questions.

It was a religious thing, one that had always annoyed Kagome as a student. Now she could see the sense in the policy of most priesthoods, but back then it had only frustrated her endlessly. The view was, that if you didn't know enough to pose the right question, how could you know enough to properly understand the answer.

Oh yes, Kagome understood why Miroku hadn't completely briefed Sango the way Inuyasha did her. It was because Sango must not have asked the right questions, or not pursued the subject when he gave her vague answers.

It wasn't until recently that she and Inuyasha realized the lacking communication between their two friends and pack members. Far be it from Kagome to interfere in the relationship between other married people, but Sango and Miroku couldn't go on like this and remain part of the pack. Something, she was sure her slayer friend was beginning to comprehend. At the moment, the flaws of their marriage were causing serious friction in the greater pack, and this was only one instance where it would prove so. If Sango had been aware of the true nature of Hiro's misbehavior, Kagome was certain it would have been solved months ago. Miroku was a push over and amazingly ignorant in a strangely knowing way.

Sort of like the Inu no Taishou, only, Miroku wasn't willfully misinterpreting things. Miroku honestly didn't know everything about how to live in a pack, whereas, the Taishou didn't have that excuse.

Even so, Miroku should know enough to talk to Sango about their children. That's was simply part of being married and having kids as far as Kagome was concerned. If something was going on with one of those kids while one parent was out working or running errands or just simply not present, it was up to the other parent to fill them in. Kagome could remember the big blow up that had occurred with Miroku forgot to tell Sango about Hiro's first tooth. Normally she would chuckle at the memory, but she couldn't right now.

She honestly believed Sango and Miroku could do with a little marriage counseling at this point. Although, knowing Akemi the way she did, Kagome was certain the Feral alpha was definitely going to look into the matter personally sometime in the near future. Akemi was that kind of person. And despite being Feral, she was one of the most logical and rational thinkers Kagome had ever encountered. It probably helped that the alpha was certain to assess a problem fully before attempting to solve it.

Hence, why Kagome had known when Inuyasha told her last night that little Hiro's behavior was going to be heard by the alpha one way or another today that Akemi was going to spend most of her attention on Hiro instead of the rest of the pack. It was a situation that would require the full attention of an alpha in any case, but knowing her alpha would first want to observe the little heathen in action, Kagome had planned her day accordingly.

It took a lot to keep a pack of this size going, even more for one as diverse as the Broken Pack. Kagome had never had to deal with the logistics before Akemi's return because the Broken Pack had not had one place they could all reside in. Now they all lived in the mansion with occasionally returned new members since not all had abandoned their families when the Feral arrived. More of the stragglers had arrived over the last few months, unable to resist the comfort of being near the Lost One.

What this all meant was that someone had to arrange to feed the whole group of them with all their different dietary needs. This meant large deliveries of food to the mansion more than once a week which meant that somebody had to receive it and direct it to the proper kitchens. That food had to be stored properly lest it be eternally in the way of meal preparations, which was a little bit more work shifting and stocking everything. Thankfully, the pack existed on an irregular schedule which called for everybody to eat in smaller groups at their leisure. So Kagome didn't have to figure out how to cook three meals a day for close to a hundred mouths not counting people. This wasn't the old days where the tasks were attended to by servants, and hiring staff was risky with the Broken Pack around since they were so wary of strangers.

So naturally, somebody had to plan things out and it certainly wasn't Akemi. Luckily, Kagome had started taking classes on how to manage a household the size of a youkai pack since she was little. The classes were usually voluntary for humans, but little Kagome had known after meeting little Akemi that she was destined to be part of an inu pack. And while it was clear to Kagome from the start that Akemi would be the alpha and Sesshoumaru her beta, it was also clear that somebody else needed to be around who could handle the more mundane chores of feeding the pack and paying the necessary bills.

And little Kagome had wanted to be helpful enough to volunteer.

Truth be told, she enjoyed the planning and executing of such work most of the time. Thing was, she need the time to do them and that couldn't happen if she needed to do other things.

So, knowing that she would be needed to help look after the pack in the absence of Akemi's direct attention, Kagome had woken earlier than usual to take care of the necessary chores her days off from council sessions called for. With the help of her immediate family and a few early risers of the Broken Pack everything had been taken care of to her satisfaction.

Now all Kagome had to do was sip her scalding tea and wait for that group on the green to reach the house. Then the more delicate and difficult work would begin.

"Kagome," Gelinda called to the miko from the doorway. "The Broken Pack is assembling in the foyer. We need to talk with you and them when they get here."

Kagome glanced the borderline kuroneko curiously. The foyer of the Taishou manse was probably the only room large enough to contain every member of the pack, even with the obstruction of the sweeping staircases. Actually, most of the pack could probably sprawl out on the steps and still leave room for passage to the rest of the house. But the pack had never assembled before, even when there had been reason. "Wha-?"

"We are aware that Akemi is dealing with Hiro today and will not be coming," Aramanda called from behind the kuroneko. "We have things that need to be discussed within the pack about the coming months. We would appreciate it if you and they -" the vocal female gestured to the slowly approaching trio on the lawn, "would joins us as we understand you desire to set up a clinic for us inside the house. We need to keep all members informed and to decide how we wish to handle visiting privileges in the absence of our alpha as this sort of thing is bound to happen again in future."

Kagome blinked in surprise though she could see their reasoning. In a short time, Akemi would have to forsake spending all her time with the Broken Pack to birth and nurse her pups. And somewhere in the middle of all that, the alpha would need time to recover from the carrying and birthing of said pups. "If the pack does not show that they can survive longer periods of time without her, Akemi will rise to the occasion and attempt to do more than she should," the shikon miko observed out loud.

"Exactly," Aramanda nodded. "We can handle the separation, we will have to if we desire our alpha to remain healthy. In a way, we, the other alphas of the pack can see that we need to protect her from herself in the same way that her beta would. But more than that, we want to protect her Beta too. He means almost as much to us as she does and she will remain only as strong as we help him to be." The council spokesperson for the Broken Pack smirked, "We have survived much. We are not so fragile as we were, and we had something of a system in place during the dark times before you came to us. Times are not so dire as they were then, but the system should still work and remains built in to the pack even now, we have only to awaken the knowledge and revive the use of it. It is simply a matter of doing so without causing panic. If we can express this to the pack correctly, it should help run the pack when the alpha is otherwise occupied by duties she cannot defer."

When Kagome's surprised expression didn't change, Gelinda snorted, "We are capable of looking after ourselves you know." Most of them were certainly full grown youkai after all. Even the youngest had past beyond their age of maturity. "Granted, we need a bit more help than some youkai, but we aren't completely helpless."

"We have been abused, but most of us are not so close to breaking," Aramanda added as she lead Kagome to the growing murmur of the gathered pack.

"What brought this on?" Kagome demanded. If the Broken Pack had been capable of helping themselves, her job sure would have been a lot easier than it had been. Why would they stir themselves now when they wouldn't before.

"Kagome," Aramanda sighed, "We are mending where we weren't before. The Alpha gives us something no one else could." At the miko's obvious failure to comprehend what she meant, Aramanda continued to clarify. "She gives us hope when we thought there could never be any for us. The Lost One fell over the edge of sanity, and she was the strongest, oldest, and best of us. How could any of us hope to survive were she had already fallen?"

"But she came back," Gelinda added with a rare gentle, nostalgic smile. "Our Alpha proved you could fall and still return. There is hope for life beyond the bounds of hell. The pain has an end, it will not last forever."

"You don't mean to follow her over the edge-" Kagome gasped fearfully. One of the arguments that had to be readdressed at every council meeting since Akemi's pardoning had been over the contagious quality of being Feral. If members of the Broken Pack started falling over the edge, Akemi's welcome would quickly evaporate.

"No, Kagome," Aramanda snorted. "Akemi is here so we don't have to go that far, none of us. She is...hmm... our security blanket. She makes us feel safe where everything felt wild and out of our control before. When she is around, things still feel that way, but we can relax enough to let it be that way without stressing about it."

Kagome blinked before she smiled, "I guess I can understand that. Akemi always did have a way of inspiring security in oneself to the point where the whole world could fall apart and you just knew you would still be fine through the whole of it so you could pick the pieces up after everything went bad and start rebuilding when it was over." The human alpha grinned wider, "Akemi was like that even when she was little. I think it's her self-possession that makes it possible. She knows who she is and what she's capable of and the world doesn't matter beyond how she can get around it."

"She was like that at school too," Morenda smirked as she joined them just outside the designated meeting hall. It had always amused her and quite a few others to watch just how the great inu had dodged around the teachers at school. And Akemi always had regardless of how much they beat her for it. "It was rather inspiring the way she always kept striving to achieve her goals." Even when her goal had become nothing more than to break free of her engagement, the whole world and all she knew so she could hide from it in the wilderness.

"Heh, you remember that time the stupid cooking instructor wanted us to make omelets because females were incapable of making anything more complicated and Akemi made a full three course meal instead," Gelinda snickered.

Morenda smiled, "He didn't know whether to have her beaten for failing to complete the assignment or praise her for accomplishing more than he thought her able to."

Kagome stared at them in abject wonder, she had never seen any of the Broken Pack speak so freely about their experiences up at the school in the north, let alone laugh about it.

"You remember that time Akemi actually proved the writing instructor had been misspelling a word using his own copy of the dictionary," Morenda added.

"No! I must not have been there yet," Aramanda gasped scandalized to have missed it.

"Oh yeah," Gelinda nodded to confirm to actual event. "He'd been so miffed at Akemi showing him up like that, he'd had her whipped for it, but he never misspelled it in class again."

"I do remember the time she managed to knock the head master into the Fire Pit which was full of murky water after the rainy season," Aramanda nearly giggled. "It was so funny watching him walk back trying to accommodate his soaked slacks."

Gelinda actually dissolved into a dry, rusty giggle at the memory, "He looked like he'd filled his shorts or something waddling away like he did. And she got away with it without getting caught too!"

"I didn't see that," Morenda sounded upset, "that would have been worth the wall!" Which is what would have been required, as all the witnesses had been chained to the wall of shame and therefore incapable of being shooed off from the view.

"I believe, ladies," Sesshoumaru cut into their fun gently, "We came together to discuss other things than your joint tenure in torture." He wasn't exactly privy to just what those things were, but he was fairly certain laughter was not involved.

"Right,"Aramanda let go of her mirth to assume a more serious mien before getting down to business.

Kagome was practically awed at how quickly the Broken Pack came to a consensus about all of the points addressed. In almost no time at all, the old system of support was reinstated and amended to allow the alphas still to damaged to assume regular responsibilities were left out of them. There was no instance of panic from even the most timid and anxious of the pack. They all just accepted the necessity of the plan and moved on.

Even the in home clinic didn't cause any dissension. Kagome was certain there would've been at least some over where to put it. Instead, nearly the whole pack agreed to put it in the smallest dining room rather than a parlor. The pack was certain the clinic, wherever it was set up needed easy access to running water and certain heating elements. Even the refrigerator was volunteered to serve its needs.

And before Kagome could raise the need to removed any food stashed in that kitchen, a group of ten members volunteered to do the job. They even suggested buying another Refrigerator for one of the other kitchens.

When it came time to discuss how to handle visitors while Akemi was indisposed, once again the pack beat her to a solution. The pack system allowed for built in chaperones so no one would ever be left alone with their families or suitor. And if any member didn't feel up to visitors, Kagome was asked to put up a barrier over one full wing of the house to exclude males from entering. It didn't keep mothers or sisters out, but the pack reasoned that it was probably the only practical way to keep visitors out of the spaces the pack set up as a sanctuary.

"You know," Kagome began as the pack was dispersing after their productive meeting, "I wish council sessions would go as quickly as that."

"I know right?" Sango agreed still a little stunned at the efficiency of the Broken Pack when motivated. "Here I thought for sure there was going to be some high anxiety over Akemi's absence today."

Morenda snorted, "Nobody's worried about that because she's taking care of the little hoodlum responsible for harassing the submissive. He's like a wolf worrying sheep. They're just waiting for him to go in for the kill."

"He's just a little boy," Miroku protested feebly.

"Give it up Miroku," Sango growled. "Nobody cares how young he is."

"If he's old enough to purposely cause this sort of trouble," Kagome added sternly, "He's old enough to know better. You should know that. It's not a pack thing. Even a priest of your background should think the same. It's part of all religious training. When the student is ready the teacher shall appear sort of thing."

Inuyasha snickered, "Or rather, when the lesson is needed, the student shall become apparent."

"It's that whole 'asking the right question' thing," Kagome continued. "If he is old enough to think of the action, then he is old enough to learn of the consequences."

"He probably should have been versed in the consequences a lot sooner," Morenda shrugged. "Would you have waited so long to tell the Taishou?"

Miroku scoffed, "Why would we bother to tell the Taishou?"

"There's the problem, Kagome," Morenda nodded to herself. "You've never had a true alpha in charge of the pack since he's been part of it. He doesn't know what's due the alpha since he's never had one to report things to."

"His brain is also telling him she's Feral before she's alpha," Inuyasha pointed out.

"True that," Sango acknowledge the validity of the hanyou's statement. "But then, how would a Feral discipline a child, anyway?"

They all paused to ponder this conundrum of reality.

It was Sesshoumaru that answered her, "Very carefully."


	44. Ch 43 Performance Art

Ta-daa! New chapter!

Disclaimers apply.

**Performance Art**

Throwing a Tantrum...was a performance art.

Hiro had been forced to realize this after the trees and other snow draped vegetation failed to give him his way. He wasn't really certain what "performance art" meant, only having heard a few times on TV, but he was pretty certain "performance" meant somebody had to be around to see it and "art" in this case meant you had to have a certain level of skill. Both of which made him confident that a tantrum was a performance art.

Hiro had cultivated a very specific image after a fellow kindergartener had explained the concept that tantrums were more effective when they were rare. So, rather than throw a huge tantrum over a sucker in the grocery store that he could just as easily receive by asking politely, he save up his more violent displays of temper for bigger more important things, like getting himself out of trouble.

Such had been his policy for the last two years. As such his mom thought he was a very mild, well-adjusted 6-year-old who never threw a fit for no reason. Thus his few tantrums were successful in achieving exactly their purpose. So far.

This same schoolmate had warned him that eventually his parents would become capable of seeing through his tantrums with consistent and regular application. Hiro believed that so long as he limited their exposure, he was golden for years to come. He'd also taken to pushing his little sisters into tantrums to divert attention from his own. The more often they have theirs, the less frequent his begin to seem. It was a diversionary tactic he'd picked up watching cartoons on Saturday mornings, long before his mom talked his dad into getting them out of bed.

So far so good.

There was one last thing his classmate had warned him of. Hiro had scoffed at the possibility at the time, there was absolutely no chance anybody could be completely immune to a well delivered tantrum. But his friend had insisted that there were mommy types (which was any female person older than big sister age) that were completely unconcerned by well performed tantrums delivered by amazingly skillful artists. Most were older, in the grand mommy range, mommy's who had seen and raised a large number of children. There were, however, others capable of the same thing.

Most of the notably difficult to fool types were youkai. Their stronger senses aided in detecting calculated tantrums, inu were especially difficult, but not impossible. Hiro had mastered his tantrum art to the point where it fooled youkai noses. Or so he'd always assumed since he'd never encountered an problems and his Uncle Inuyasha and Honorary Grandpa had been present for more than one tantrum. He still go his way.

After a few hours of kicking at mud-stained snow and tearing at heavy, dampened branches before allowing his perturbed behavior to devolve into throwing random snowballs at trees while he stopped his heavy shoes into the dirt leaving solid, clear foot prints. He didn't wander around a lot, there wasn't much more than trees to see. The insects were all gone this time of year so there weren't any to watch or disrupt. There weren't any squirrels or birds to scare off, just trees that weren't doing anything.

It was kind of boring. And eventually, after a second fit over the reality that lunch and a return home for it weren't going to become a reality, Hiro began to understand that he was cold and getting colder.

Hiro had known he was cold before of course, but it was in that footnote sort of way that nobody ever really paid attention to because it was a minor, short-term inconvenience. Now he was coming to see that this could be a real problem for him considering he had no guarantees that he would see home tonight. Which meant he needed to find a way to keep warm until it would no longer be a problem.

The most obvious solution, of course, was a fire. But Hiro, being six years old, did not have the means for making a fire at his disposal. Obtaining matches was something he was well aware even a particularly magnificent tantrum wouldn't manage to achieve, and he didn't know how to make a fire without at least that much. The next obvious solution was to find or build some actual shelter.

Houses kept you warm, Hiro thought to himself, but he didn't have the means nor the time to make an actual house. He'd always wanted to build an igloo like the ones he'd seen on tv, but his earlier behavior had pretty much used up all the snow he would have needed to make one anyway. Which left him with the trees and bushes. At first, he couldn't think how those could help him.

Hiro didn't have an ax to cut wood with, nor anything to make that wood stay where he wanted it. He slipped on his most despised mittens and made foggy breath rings for a while as he thought over this conundrum. After clapping his hands to warm them moderately a few times, it occurred to him that there were a fairly large number of branches already on the ground for him to work with.

Darkness was a ways off, but the dropping temperature was spur enough to get him working on the project rather quickly. He wanted to be warm.

He'd also like to be full, but Hiro didn't have the first idea of how to find food out here. He was getting thirsty too, but he was reluctant to drink or eat snow when he was already cold.

It took hours to round up the right size branches to prop against the base of his chosen tree. Hours spent in which he hardly noticed that he wasn't as cold the longer and harder he worked to build his shelter.

Hiro smirked as he finally found a use for the stupid scarf his mom always made him wear out of the house lately. The brightly colored length of fabric found a home wrapped around the ends of the branches keeping them propped up against the tree while maintaining a small hollow big enough for him to huddle in. then he packed all the holes left with twigs and handfuls of fallen leaves until the inside was really dark.

Then he crawled inside it, barely noting the encroaching shades of darkness. With careful effort and the pile of twigs set aside for this exact purpose he carefully covered up his modified doorway before drawing his legs up inside the oversized coat he was wearing. He drew his hood up all the way until he could duck and completely cover his head into the main section of the coat. Last he shed his stupid baby mittens, hooked the ends of his sleeves together and drew his hands back along the slippery insides of his sleeves to tuck in his armpits.

Settled into place after quite an exciting and emotionally draining day, Hiro leaned sideways against the tree beside him and quickly fell asleep.

Akemi shifted carefully against the tree bark of her own tree. The movement served to provide only slight, temporary relief from the general discomfort that plagued her perpetually achy body. Truly, sitting in a tree for hours on end was hardly conducive to eliminating the small pains created by carrying the weight of four new bodies about her middle. Not that straddling and crouching on a tree branch was all that comfortable at the best of times.

The wilds were not designed for comfort after all. At least not the sort of comfort she'd found resting in the den her beta provided. The wilds were a world in which every use of a resource had to be fought for and torn away from all the other creatures that shared the same wilderness, the same resources, and so on. Living outside the wild was beginning to spoil her, she mused mildly.

It was convenient to have a hot spring inside a den so that she could relax while bathing. It was reassuring to know that her resting place was protected from unwanted intrusion.

Such allowed her to truly release the tensions that built up in her muscles after being forced to expose her vulnerable self to the dangers of a world filled with creatures that would do a feral harm.

She hadn't lied to Shippou when she'd said that a female this far along in the carrying would go to ground in her den and not venture outside of it until after the birthing. Stealth required both a solid knowledge of her bodies dimensions and a certain level of confidence in her ability to move silently despite the increase of weight. Such was impossible with her body doing all manner of strange things to accommodate and nurture the pups at her middle, just under her heart.

Luckily watching over the brat didn't require a lot of quick movement on her part. She'd just had to sit there and watch him throw a pointless fit.

It had been difficult for Akemi to watch the boy stomp around in his anger. Hiro's careless moves crushed a number of edible plants and stripped what little leafage had still been clinging stubbornly to the bushes from their branches. Akemi may never eat such things, but prey animals did and she'd learned humans could sustain themselves using such plant life as well. Which could have proven to save the child's life after he'd scared all the prey animals off with his noise had she really planned to leave the boy here on his own.

It was strange to her, the way Hiro carried on like that. Hiro's tantrum lasted through much of the cold morning hours, the only good thing about it was that he was certainly kept warm from the effort. As the noon hour rolled around and he realized he wasn't going to be back in time for lunch, his fit gained renewed force and ire. He truly had thought he wouldn't get left out here for that long. By then, of course, there were no more animals to spook out of their dens. They were all long gone, frightened off in the first hours of his angry storm.

But while the more timid prey animals had taken flight, his pointless thrashing about had drawn in predators looking for an easy meal in the colder months.

These were the creatures that kept Akemi out here watching over the boy. The little human was obviously incapable of defending himself against such animals on his own. Hiro was almost more trouble than he was worth, the feral alpha sighed to herself silently. Predators like regular wolves and the occasional lethargic bear wakened from slumber were easy enough to scare off. All they needed was to sense a stronger more threatening creature in the area to back off, and despite the risk, Akemi flared her youki at each one that approached the boy's vicinity, subtly so as to keep the half trained brat from sensing her presence. Such wasn't difficult. Creatures of any species that managed to survive in the wild were certainly more sensitive to the threat of imminent death than anything that lived outside the wilderness. Akemi would have to shove her youki at the boy quite forcefully before Hiro would be able to sense she was close enough to do so.

Unfortunately, the more times she scared them off with subtle spikes of her youki, the more likely it was that one predator would approach who was hungry enough to ignore the threat and would attack anyway. It was at such a moment where she would have to calculate her reaction carefully. If her defense of Hiro arose too late, he could be seriously hurt. However, if she rose to save the boy too quickly, the lesson would not be learned and this whole effort would have been for naught.

A Feral hated nothing more than wasted energy.

So she sat, almost completely still upon her branch taking note of the resourcefulness of the little human male while considering where his survival skills fell short. She hadn't exactly expected a lot from a human cub. Her exposure to the world out side the wild over the course of the last few months had given her a slight understanding of the differences between youkai and human creatures and the limitations of both species.

Human survival instinct only pushed through their consciousness in moments of extreme stress, unlike youkai where the instinct ran through their lives like a constant underlying subtext. And children...well, human children had even less connection to survival instinct beyond the ability to recognize the need for food and comfort. Youkai young were only more instinct driven in how they interact and play, their behavior harkening back to the sort of behavior she'd observed in wild youkai and animals.

Everything else had to be taught. Sadly, non-ferals tended to neglect teaching their young survival skills for the wild in the midst of all the other lessons handed down to them. Higher learner was great, in its way, but there was no way such could actually be translated into actual application without demonstration. And none of it would actually help when the stores were closed and the pantry empty.

Akemi was of the philosophy that learning to survive in the wilds could only help with surviving the travails of life outside the wilds. A Feral, wild youkai, or animal had to be resourceful to successfully thrive in a forest, desert, or tundra. Akemi had lived in a forest and survived there quite well, but she probably could have survived in any mildly hostile environment, though she'd prefer another forest. It was what she knew and was comfortable with, and the region in which she lived only supported that type of wilderness in any case. As such it was probably the better area for her pack to learn survival for. And she was decided that they would be taught to survive in any case.

It was just something else she would have to look into teaching the members of her pack. Right after figuring out some way to help her human pack relate properly to the rest of the group and schooling the broken females on how to get past the abuse they'd suffered. She couldn't forget that she had to somehow teach the fool males out to mate those same females away from her how best to accommodate those females new, special needs.

If Akemi wasn't already stretched thin caring for her pack, she might even attempt to fix the issues non-feral society suffered from as a whole.

But she wasn't crazy enough to take that on.

And she was well aware she didn't have to proper understanding to pull it off anyway.

With great effort, Akemi drew her mind away from such thinking before she could delve too far into them. A distracted youkai was soon a dead youkai in the wild and the moment she forgot that simple truth it would be far too late for fixing her mistake. Of course it was rare when such a mistake would lead to the death of more than just herself like it would at this point in time. A slip up of her own would end in the death of Hiro too.

So, she watched as he exhausted himself with his fit. Watched as his pacing and pointless swings at the nearest vegetation became more and more sporadic. Until finally she watched Hiro set to building his shelter for the night. His clothing was damp with the melted snow fallen from tree branches disturbed by his passing and his breath steamed in a heavy fog of exertion.

And when all was said and done, she was nearly ready to praise his successfully built shelter despite the fact he left a bright indicator of his location in the long strip of cloth used to tie the ends of the largest branches around his chosen tree. He certainly couldn't hide that he was there, which only meant that in a real situation where Akemi wasn't standing guard his hidey hole was certainly not hidden, but otherwise his temporary shelter met with her approval. The loose thatching provided easy escape from the dwelling in the event that a predator attacked and the the loose construction would probably collapse on the head of the invading creature providing some level of distraction.

Granted it wouldn't provide much, but it was better than she expected from a human child in this situation. Her main concern was the non-feral foolishness that being inside _something_ automatically made you safer. It didn't, not in the wild and certainly not out of it despite popular belief. It was strange the illusions non-ferals believed without support or reason. Shelter would certainly protect you from certain elements of the weather, but that didn't mean you were safe.

She was surprised non-ferals chose not to realize that as they had obviously mastered the concept that poisonous plants, despite their dangers could also be used as medicines that saved lives. Surely if they had managed to understand the dichotomy of one danger in the world they would be able to sense the dangers in their false sense of security.


	45. Ch 44 A Hunter's Hope

Erm, I had intended this to be finished a bit sooner. oh well!

As of March 16, it was my Birthday. My hope was to post this then, but I was so busy on my birthday I just didn't have the time to finish it. heh.

A lot has been happening. A while back I indicated that I required a certain balance of stress and relaxation. If I'm too relaxed, I get lazy and stagnant. If I'm too stressed, I tend to escape by reading more. Don't get me wrong, I read a lot anyway. It's a good source of stimulation. Get those ol' neurons firing! The problem with that is, I don't write. I can't settle the stimulation down to focus on just the one Idea. And, there's a lot more out there for me to read than there used to be.

Where am I going with this? I'll tell you, because I was going to anyway. Back in February, i got real stressed out and started reading through archives on a number of fanfiction sites. A lot of it was stuff I'd read before and some of it was stuff I'd chosen to skip over originally. The problem. There was a reason I skipped over it. And a lot of the stuff I had read, irked me the first time around. A lot of fanfiction is a little wimpy girl needs saving, or takes excessive abuse because she's too good to throw her hands up, tell the jerk to grow up and move on herself. A number of them had our Kagome acting like a limp noodle over being forced into a situation not of her making, but trapped into it none the less. this bugs me for a number of reasons.

Now, I'm not a rampant feminist. That requires just too much energy, but I do think that the only person who should decide what goes on in their life is the person in question. Most of my heroines and original characters have decent self-esteem and self-respect. I don't believe in the hollywood bullshit image of love. I don't think love requires that one person be in charge while the other is subservient (another issue I have with fanfiction sometimes). I don't think love requires earth shattering changes in disposition. I do, however believe that cheaters should be dumped on the spot. Cheating in a relationship indicates a lack of respect. STaying with a cheater makes it worse because it indicates a lack of self-respect. I don't believe that one person should have to give over everything that they are in order to maintain a relationship. And sex does not automatically equal love, I don't care how good it might be. Instinct does not indicate love either. Just because some animal instinct picks out a sexual partner, does not mean they have a personality more interesting than a brick. Instinct searches out breeding material not mental and emotional compatability.

Anyways, in the spirit of this irksome mood, a modicum of stress, and a desire to write even if it wasn't for this particular fic, I started a couple projects inspired by specific fanfics I found especially annoying. They're not finished, So I'm not going to post them yet. I do know where they're going to end though and I do have quite a few chapters of both stories. They are not paradies and if I ever post them I will credit the original stories (provided I still remember the titles) to their respective authors. I may even be nice enough as to contact the authors beforehand to let them know about it.

I do not think these stories are necessarily bad, I read them after all. I just grew tired of the stereotypical depictions of kagome and a number of other characters and ideas found therein. If not for these two specific stories, I still would have found others.

Want to know more? PM me. hells, you could AIM me for that matter (name's TerraLeeRose). I live in a vacuum. Just tell me you're from this site when you IM me or I might ignore you. And pay attention to away messages. If it says I'm away...I really am unavailable to respond. I work second shift which means my attention can really only be caught about midnight to four am during the week (that's Central US time). Weekends I don't usually get up before 1pm.

Er, standard disclaimers apply, there's not much of Akemi in this chapter.

**The Hunter's Hope**

Sitting high above the world, floating on each passing night wind that bobbed the branch under him about on the irregular currents, the Feral male perched, still as a statue. The small, almost miniscule forest gathered about him stood silent beyond the shuffling creek of bare branches bending to gusting breezes. No creature stirred about in the darkness below or above him for miles around.

A number of the animals were hibernating, suffering disturbing dreams tinged with the anxiety of a close, predatory presence of the Hunter's caliber. Despite the fear interfering with their peaceful sleep, none of them stirred or shifted, somehow aware He could hear the movement.

What animals that would normally forage under the secure cloak of darkness failed to emerge from their dens for the same reason. No mice skittered about the close, thorny bulk of the bushes that hugged the ground to search out some last, lost seed or nut hidden about the roots, despite the need for food. No owls hooted into the winds or hunted through the sky, for fear of drawing the attention of the greater predator in their midsts.

Even the pack of wolves kept quiet, despite the full round of the moon glowing in the sky haloed by the fog of light cloud cover. Canine though the Feral might be some instincts couldn't be fooled by common language and behaviors. Which was just as well. The feral had killed off the wolves back in his territory years ago.

Not that he was looking to do so now.

The Hunter couldn't be bothered to concern himself with the lesser creatures of this particular copse of trees. It wasn't his territory, and they weren't his prey.

For the first time in four moons, he could sense her. He'd been traveling in a mostly straight line from his wild to the last point at which her power had spiked into the sky. Then the spike had drawn him from the comfort of the wilds and his resignation that she was dead and irrevocably lost to him.

He hadn't known why such a significant spike of power had lit up his senses like that. Perhaps she had been attacked, under duress, or driven beyond all of her control by the weakness of the injury he'd dealt her. No explanation seemed to fully satisfy what he knew of her self control prior to now, but she was getting old for a feral. She might be losing her touch or this non-feral world had presented her with something more dreadful than she'd ever encountered in their native wilds.

It was possible.

The non-ferals he'd observed in his time beyond the wilds were amazingly insane. Not a one of them would survive in the wild, which would mistakenly lead him to think the wilds were the more dangerous world, if not for the number of occasions he'd seen evidence to the contrary.

Those beasts that hurtled along the strange hard rivers snaking through practically all of the country didn't seem to always manage to control their direction and speed. The noises they made when they collided with other beasts or even just random trees and irregular flotsam was worse than any death howls he'd ever known before, and the bodies they carried...

If he was going to bleed that much, he'd rather fight something.

Further proof of their rampant insanity existed everywhere. He still couldn't understand how non-ferals had managed to survive as a species when they made their dens so incredibly obvious and flimsy. It was never a secret when one of their homes was around. They didn't even try to blend in, erected at sharp angles over the ground and painted bright colors he'd never seen in nature. It was almost like they wanted to be attacked by a predator.

Rather than forage for food, or hunt down prey, they forced it to grow in unnatural arrangements in far off places and dragged it round in strange beasts that rode on rails, cutting through the air with noise at all hours.

The more he learned of this strange world, the more he wondered at the feral female's ability to stand it. He hated the smells that pierced the air and stung at his nose. He missed the honest to goodness hunting of prey in the wilderness over the bloodless kills he got raiding the hurtling beasts of burden. They were too stupid to be made sport of.

He missed his wilds and maintaining it the way he had been for the last several seasons. Perhaps by now, there might even be a few more females arrived from the outer world for him to assess.

Before today he'd been almost ready to turn around and find his way back home. There was no guarantee that the female he sought was still alive after all this time given the first reaction of non-ferals was to destroy a feral on sight.

He believed that the power spike he felt was a sign that she hadn't died right away. It didn't peter out, or increase sharply in that last effort that preceded death. It simply cut off, like it was done voluntarily under her own power.

But four moons without sign nor clue of her had discouraged him. As he was well aware, she was old for a Feral youkai of either gender and any species. Something always caused a feral to die before they lived much longer than she already head. He suppose it could be insanity or recklessness. There's a possibility that the body just quit working period. He'd never really thought about it or cared to. Death was inevitable.

He just wanted to catch up to this specific female and pup her before she died because she was obviously the strongest female to be found by virtue of the fact she had survived so long in the wild. He would never have the opportunity of catching a female of her caliber again, he would die before another female lived that long. He would have to settle for lesser females which simply would not do.

Not for this Feral.

He wanted the best while the best was still obtainable.

And today, she had given him a sign that she was still alive and capable of being found. At the first faint pulse of power around midday, the Hunter had frozen mid step, absolutely stunned to have felt it at all. The second slightly stronger pulse galvanized him into action up the tallest tree around. The third, continuing in the pattern, was slightly stronger and less likely a figment of his strained senses.

Each pulse grew in intensity and duration until he had a solid direction in which to continue his travels. He did not immediately jump down to continue the hunt though. Rushing head long in the new direction was what had propelled him too far in the wrong direction. Her current location had her a bit behind him and a great deal west of his current location across open terrain and dense settlements of non-ferals. He could see the strange lights staining the sky in that direction, which meant he couldn't just run in a straight line from his tree to wherever the hell she was holed up.

It didn't take astounding levels of intelligence or observation to note that the areas that housed more non-ferals held increased chances of his being spotted and subsequently killed. Thus far he had managed to avoid such areas with ease. His previously strait path had managed to run between such noisy obstructions without turning to circumvent detection. He'd come close to a few parked beasts in which the non-ferals weren't going anywhere, but never had they been aware of his proximity.

The non-ferals in those instances were too busy making a mockery of rutting to bother noticing the danger just outside their ride. And it was a mockery. None of the involved creatures were bloody with the signs of combat. How could they be assured the one they rutted was of the proper strength and caliber?

It was the way of nature that the weak should die out while the strong breed on.

What those non-ferals did was a perversion of nature that disgusted him. He'd nearly killed a couple of them just to prevent such a travesty from taking place. Didn't they want their offspring to have the best chance of survival? How could they endanger that by possibly mating with someone weak?

But then, non-ferals were deranged.

He was convinced that they were all weak, living along side another species that didn't even have claws or fangs. Even prey animals had claws even if they didn't have fangs. Granted those claws weren't fit for weaponry, but they still had them. Little bunnies had digging claws for crying out loud, and they were the weakest of the weak in prey animals, besides squirrels. And both were faster than the great lumbering species of lesser beings.

It never occurred to him that he had once been a non-feral, as had the female he was pursuing.

Said female was the topic of another youkai's worry in a location far closer to the pulses of youki.

Sesshoumaru simply couldn't sleep despite the length and stress of the day. He could feel her out there in the small wilderness that bordered the property.

So instead of curling up and faking sleep in the room he normally shared with his alpha, Sesshoumaru sat in the hard wooden chair that served as the only furniture in the back room that faced the picture window onto the wilds behind the house. A thin sheen of ice silvered the snow and moon drenched trees that crowded the view and cut him off from Akemi.

It amazed him how used to the absence of her aura he'd gotten so that, now, when he could feel it pulsing irregularly out there in the wilderness, it unnerved him. Unlike a number of others in the pack, Sesshoumaru remembered everything Akemi had said since he found her again. Akemi certainly didn't speak enough to take anything she did say for granted.

When Akemi said something, she meant it and if his feral alpha indicated that her meaning applied to situations beyond the immediate context, Sesshoumaru believed her. He might have been the only one still worried about Akemi's hunter.

True this wasn't the wild and Akemi's den was far from the house they stayed in now. Most of the pack probably believed all the dangers of the wild were far behind her now. Maybe they were. But Sesshoumaru couldn't shake the memory of Akemi facing down the entire ruling council on her first day out of the wilds. He couldn't let go of the warning she'd seen fit to deliver before dropping her control over the power that permeated every ounce of her being.

If she'd seen fit to speak about it there, Akemi had a reason. Sesshoumaru was afraid that reason was the same as the one that had driven him to break an amazingly large number of laws to bring his alpha from her wild to the home of Kagome. She was hunted. And as the hunted of a pursuit that has spanned the course of several years, she would best know the tenacity of her pursuer. Akemi would best know if the Feral that sought her out was determined enough to leave the bounds of his forest territory to continue his hunt.

Sesshoumaru tried to take comfort in the lack of reported Feral attacks in that part of the world. There had been no call for Exterminators in that direction at all. But somehow, he remained uneasy.

If he were a more sensitive individual, he might infer that he was picking up Akemi's fears and doubts. Except, Akemi never expressed any fear about the Hunter. Her tension was clearly related to interacting with the Broken Pack or the public beyond.

Then again, what had Akemi to be afraid of? She wasn't found yet. And if her Hunter caught up with her, she still wouldn't fear. In the wild, when she held him to the ground, protecting him, he'd thought she was terrified. She was, but not for what the Hunter would do to her. It was almost like she accepted that her life would come to that someday.

No, she feared for him, for what her Hunter would do to him because it wasn't a natural course of life in the wild. By taking him in and teaching him to hunt, Akemi had flown in the face of all things natural for Feral.

She'd hoped for the benefit he would gain, but she'd feared the end she had imposed on him. Sesshoumaru could have reassured her more if he hadn't been...

He cut off the thought. She had worried for him, feared for him, because he was unable to protect himself then. As loathe as he was to admit it, he was weak at the time, recovering from an illness that had clearly held onto him for months before he awoke to Akemi.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," the soft murmur drifted through the silvered darkness.

The sound drew him out of his thoughts to focus on the reflection of a small creature behind him. "Hnn?" he asked of the child, careful to leave his intonation quiet and gentle as not to upset the little kitsune.

"Couldn't you sleep, Sesshoumaru-sama?" the other child asked from slightly behind Shippou. He hadn't realized that Rin was there too. The darkness that pervaded the interior of the house beyond and the brighter reflection of her cohort had obscured her own image in the glass. He should have expected her to be there though, even if he couldn't distinguish her scent from the older trails of it in the house.

As constant inhabitants, the children had permeated the very walls with their scent, the kitsune more so than Rin by virtue of his instinctually direct rubbing against practically every structure within the walls. It was difficult to tell where they were exactly within the house if he wasn't concentrating harder than he tended to within his own home.

"This Sesshoumaru does not sleep without the presence of his alpha," he replied absently. They could take it however they wished. Most others when informed of this reality would assume that he refused to sleep to stand guard over the pack while the alpha was absent. Perhaps for any other youkai it would be true. But for Sesshoumaru he simply could not sleep without Akemi close, it wasn't a choice.

"Do you think Hiro's all right?" Shippou asked as the pair drew closer to the big inu.

"Most assuredly." Sesshoumaru reassured the boy readily. He had no doubt on that subject.

"Rin thinks so too," the human girl declared solidly. "Akemi won't let anything bad happen to Hiro. She's just making sure he learns not to hurt the Broken Pack any more."

"Yeah, but how is she doing that?" the curious kit demanded.

Rin sputtered a few minutes before looking beseechingly up at Sesshoumaru for the information.

He stared blandly down at the two pups that had finally settled upon the floor beside him. Rin leaned against his leg with her head draped over her hands on his thigh. Shippou practically kneeled atop Sesshoumaru's feet, tugging at the silk of his sleep pants with anxious claws. These two would not accept the same answers the adults had. Describing her actions with adjectives alone rather than detailing exact actions would not appease them. And lying had never been his forte nor his policy. "Hnn," was all he said, his gaze once more glued on the snow covered trees that hogged the view out the window.

Shippou nodded up at the big inu as if he had heard a full list of actions taken on the part of the alpha in the single syllable voiced by the Beta. "We'll have to ask her when she gets back."

"Why, Shippou?" his partner in crime asked quietly.

"So that we can do it ourselves in the future," the kit responded with certainty. "Everything the alpha does is to either teach us to live in and of the pack as we are now, and when we grow up. It is always best to learn the reasons for the behavior displayed by the alpha. You don't think the stuff we're allowed to do now will be the same when we grow up do you? Right now we just have to look out for us. Someday we'll be responsible for someone else." Shippou glanced up at the inu for affirmation. "How are we going to be able to take care of them if we don't learn how now, while the alpha shows us what to do?"

"Will you be alpha someday, Shippou?" Rin asked.

"I'll be whatever my pack needs me to be," Shippou answered. He didn't much look to being in charge of a full pack, but if it was required of him, he intended to do his best at it. There was no way he wanted to risk being as bad at it as the Taishou was.

"Good," Sesshoumaru allowed an encouraging rumble to escape his chest. "There are too many youkai determined to make the pack fit themselves." Which was becoming increasingly obvious now that Akemi had pointed it out to him. "For now, you need not be more than a kit and pup. Akemi will show you both the way, and you will learn. That is all the pack needs of you now."

"Can we stay here until Akemi comes, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin murmured tiredly, her head beginning to nod as she fought to keep vigil with him.

Shippou's bright eyes, which had never roved from their gaze up at him, begged for the small allowance. The kit needn't have bothered. Sesshoumaru was well aware that the presence of pack offered comfort to pups stirred by anxiety. If he'd been able to remove himself from the wide window to take them back into one or the other of their rooms, he still would have stayed with them.

As he couldn't bring himself to leave that icy view, he allowed the kitsune to crawl up into his lap while Rin dozed against his thigh. It would have been the perfect treat for him, sleeping in a pile of pack if Akemi was present as well. Instead it was a hollow comfort that kept him warm in the dark room as he waited for the return of his alpha from the frozen wood.


	46. Ch 45 Lessons Learned

Grrr. I had this ready to go two days after the last chapter update, and then FFN wouldn't let me add it! I was beginning to worry I never would be able to again add to this story!

Despite that, I reached over 1,100 hits this month! So despite my small readership, you really, REALLY love what I do manage to get up here.

I enjoyed writing this chapter, the over-active imagination of 6 year old alone is far to prone to gory, thrilling, silliness and it's been a long time since I've gotten to go there.

I mentioned my other projects in my last post. Well, I forgot to mention that there aren't really any Original Main Characters in them. the pairing is Kagome/Sesshoumaru and one is pretty strictly cannon-ish and the other is absolutely AU.

You know, I've never heard anything about how I portray Sesshoumau in any of my stories. I mean I guess it's pretty compelling, but I can't figure out if it OOC or open interpretation with that guy. I know I tend to depict a number of the characters from the anime fairly differently from how most Fanfiction authors do, sometimes I make a point of it, but I don't know if these differences are believable or just interesting because they are different. i don't get a lot of feed back because my lovely audience, you are always so awed by literary greatness you can't think of the proper words to express it. Heh. Yeah I went there again! You don't like it, tell me otherwise.

Standard disclaimers apply, enjoy.

**Lessons Learned**

Before a night spent alone in the woods, Hiro would have proudly boasted to no fear of darkness. And wasn't really, in the bounds of the places he knew surrounded by the sounds he could identify as harmless and belonging to one or another of the many people he dealt with everyday. The fact that he couldn't see them didn't keep him from knowing their familiarity and consequently, their harmlessness relative to him.

Hiro wasn't quick to fear anything, or so he had believed until this one night spent huddled in the makeshift shelter of his own devising.

At first he'd been rather proud of his twig and branch leanto. He'd put it to that Crispin kid, the resident survival expert at school, to build a better one and he'd been certain his biggest worry was simply keeping warm. Keeping warm wasn't too terribly frightening and he'd been able to fall asleep perfectly fine despite the worry weighing on his mind.

Until the wind started up.

It began as a quiet rustling through the branches and trees, no louder than anything he'd ever heard through his window at night, but it swiftly picked up until the creaking sound of bark rubbing against bark rather loudly and close up startled him from the sweet slumber he'd intended to stay in until that stupid Feral came to her senses and came back for him. When he woke, he'd been a bit alarmed by the sharp cut of the cold slicing through his shelter like it wasn't there. Then he'd noticed the sound.

It took him a few minutes to convince himself it was only the wind ruffling through the branches above him. It was hard convincing himself as he'd never really been in the woods to hear tree limbs rubbing against each other before. Most of the trees he was around were solitary, standing tall and erect in the park or playground. There wasn't much on the Taishou properties to entice him to approach the wilds often.

There weren't people to prank or mischief to get into with the woods. The wilderness was boring and definitely uncool.

Now it was frightening too.

After the wind and the bark sounds came a loud crack, sharp and sudden against the backdrop of the moon drenched night. In reality it was simply a branch collapsing under the weight of too much ice build up and the added force of the wind, quite distant from the lone, human boy's location. But a six year old boy unfamiliar with the woods and raised on TV portrayals of the wilds was certain it was the direct result of some predator or exceptionally dangerous criminal on the lam lucky enough to find Hiro to make his latest victim.

He wasn't sure which scared him more being eaten by some emotionless animal looking to maul him for no reason or some opportunistic felon out to chop him up into little pieces so that his face wound up on a milk carton.

Strangely the second possibility sparked his imagination and sent him on a rather comfortably distracting train of thought covering the reaction of his parents and their individual retribution on the stupid Feral that had left him out here.

He could see it now. After a suitable amount of time, say a week, everybody would just come to the realization that something bad had happened to him. His dad would retreat into himself, unable to hold up his head now that Hiro was gone and surely dead. His mom would go mad and finally slay the Feral who had left him to his terrible and gruesome death before possibly retreating into herself permanently at the realization that it was partly her fault for giving him up to the Feral in the first place. His little sisters would have to live with Uncle Inuyasha and Aunt Kagome because Miroku and Sango would be incapable of taking care of them under the dark cloud created by their guilt in giving him up and remorse for all the terrible things they'd done to him. His mom would cry over all the times she scolded him wrongly and denied him things he wanted and kept him from staying the night when Milo Evanich had that big party last summer.

Aunt Kagome would organize a search party of course. She was always organizing something and she wouldn't just accept he was dead despite the buried knowledge of it deep inside. She'd have to prove it by searching the woods for any sign of him. Perhaps they would find the ruins of his little shelter and the evidence of his freezing night before being found by the murderer.

It was likely they wouldn't find his body.

Hiro wasn't too familiar with dead bodies and how they rot, but he imagined it was a lot harder to find a body in tiny pieces in the middle of the forest than a whole one. There was just so much debris to sift through and if the pieces were small enough and possibly picked over by the animals enough he imagined bones could look like dirt or rocks. The fossils at the museum did in the right light.

Aunt Kagome would lead the search for years, neglecting her duties to the council and the rest of the pack out of a determination to find him alive even though he was long dead.

The know-it-all Takara would be disconsolate. She would never get over even suggesting that his parents give him over to that stupid Feral. She would wallow in misery forever. And forever is a long time.

He distracted himself so much from his fear that he managed to doze off before he could itemize the way all his classmates at school would react to his sudden disappearance and unknown death. If he dreamed beyond that, he didn't remember because the next thing that broke him from his sleep was a sudden howl in the night.

Howling was never a common sound around the Taishou property as far as Hiro knew. Truthfully, if Hiro hadn't been limited by his human hearing he would have known a healthy-sized pack of wolves frequented the wilds next to the green he played in. their voice were generally up-lifted to serenade the glowing disc in the sky at some point during most nights. Their baying usually served to sooth the canid youkai of the pack rather than upset them.

The noise frightened him quite terribly until he remember about Jimmy Spencer's dog.

Jimmy Spencer had always told the other kids in class that his dog put up a frightful racket every time the full moon was up. Hiro hadn't believed him because the dog was quiet everytime he encountered the animal until last October when his mom and dad had taken Jimmy home after a school concert. It was already dark when they got to Jimmy's house and the dog had surely been crying up at the big orange ball that glowed in the evening sky. The noise the poor creature made had almost scared him. He knew it had upset Takara something awful, because she balled dramatically all the way home until her dad picked her up at the door and whispered something in her ear.

Hiro had never bothered to question what he had said to her, but he wished he had paid closer attention now because maybe then he wouldn't be so scared.

He got so preoccupied with wishing it that he forgot his fear again and returned to the land of slumber pondering just what his Uncle Inuyasha could have said to the blubbering little girl to calm her so well.

The next time he woke, it was to the screech and hoot of an owl. The sound startled him, but he quickly identified it as something that wouldn't be out to hurt him and pretty incapable of hurting him regardless, so he went back to sleep easily enough.

It was the last and final time that provided real terror to Hiro's little heart, and it was an experience he would never forget.

Like every time prior, Hiro woke abruptly at a strange change in the sounds outside his blind little shelter. This time it wasn't a twig or branch or a far distant pack of wolves. It wasn't even an owl searching out it's dinner as there was light beginning to creep past the packing of his little leanto indicating the soon to be present glow of the watery winter sun. All the owls would be safe in their nests hooting quietly their triumphs in a night of hunt or their woes in a night of misses. There were a number of animals not around due to a tendency to hibernate through the colder months, a fact he knew due to Saturday cartoons and the benefit of a premium Kindergarten education.

This did not sound like a slumbering beast, and surely he would have heard it before if it was.

This strange snuffling sound outside was too near and too new not to be dangerous, and the reality of it set his heart to pounding in his narrow chest. For the life it sounded like one of the inu youkai in the pack with a cold, taking huge breaths to drag in the scents they couldn't quite catch. Only this was scarier because he knew it wasn't them. None of the inu had a cold and even if they did none would have been willing to track him down after handing him over to Akemi, their alpha. He certainly wished they would though.

As tough as he was, and as big as he was getting, he was well aware that he couldn't take on a real predator on his own. The thought terrified him. Even little, wussy Takara would be better at fighting off some dumb animal because she had claws and, though he hated to admit it, she was faster than he was. Never had it occurred to him just how much he really benefited from having her around.

Nothing he thought of could distract him from his mounting anxiety because the unidentified source of the snuffling just kept getting closer. His only hope was not to be discovered, but it was a very small hope as even he knew most forest creatures were more than capable of sniffing him out.

It grew even more miniscule as the snuffling was soon accompanied by the rustling of fallen leaves exposed by the absence of snow during his tantrum of the day before. That sound wouldn't have been there except where the leaves were exposed to make the sound. Snow sounded differently when shifted about, Hiro should know, he'd certainly moved enough of it around to know all the different symphonies of snow.

His heart began to beat harder and his breath began to catch in his chest. Desperately he tried to keep it silent, foolishly thinking that it would be his loud heavy breathing that would give him away rather than the reality of his mere presence there being enough. Hiro kept trying to hold his breath until sparks began to flash before his eyes and his lungs started to burn.

His efforts were for naught as the snuffling and rustling got close enough that Hiro felt the distinct rush of air accompanying a loud, near snort from nostrils irritated by dirt. The boy felt his heart stop in his chest and went white as a sheet. If he'd had anything to drink the night before he was certain he would have wet his pants.

The rough wet snout knocked open a hole in Hiro's pile of sticks before the sudden rise of a predatory aura and a solid thump startled the wild pig to bolt out of sight.

Hiro scrambled out of his dark, cramped crawl space and shot over to wrap his arms about any part of his hero that he could reach.

"Had a good scare, have you?" Akemi murmured down to him blandly, well aware that he had. For a moment or two she'd almost feared he would die of fright, human young were so fragile.

"I want to go home," the boy moaned pitifully into the fabric of her baggy pants.

"What home, you have no pack?" she reminded him. The boy began to shake at her words, aware of the lesson she was forcing him to acknowledge. The night in the woods had taught him a number of things that he'd never wanted to realize.

He needed his family around him to protect him and comfort him. He needed friends around to compete with and learn from. And he could now respect what had the Broken Pack so frightened of the woods. Hiro may have been afraid for the wrong reasons, but the fact that he was afraid told him enough. They were afraid of having to stay in the woods, the same as he was now, and he never wanted to be that afraid again.

"I want my mom," he admitted in shame. "I want Takara and Kaoru and Shippou and Uncle Inuyasha and Aunt Kagome and my dad and even Grandpa Taishou."

"What of the rest of the pack?" Akemi demanded gently. She wasn't going to deny him his family, he was a pup in need of them, but she had to know if she needed to ask Kagome to keep him away from her pack.

"They're not wimpy girls because they're afraid of the woods," Hiro rasped though his tears. They couldn't be, because if they were, then so was he and that simply wasn't possible.

Akemi nodded, though the child didn't bother to see it. Carefully she reached down and tried to pry him from her leg. Her first attempts prompted the boy to cling the tighter to his tenacious hold on her, terrified she would leave him there. But she would have none of that, if they were to go home, she would need to walk and she would not risk falling over with her added bulk by letting him jeopardize her balance. Eventually she successfully weaned his grip from her person and onto a single hand before she turned and began to lead him from the site of his terror.

It was too early to take him back to his parents, so instead she went back to the den she shared with her Beta and the two children they had claimed their own. Akemi was unsurprised when the house spilled out her mate and Shippou and Rin the minute she cleared the trees.

She was well aware Sesshoumaru could not sleep without her and the two pups would have sensed his anxiety regardless of his attempts to hide it. Pack was like that.

Rin and Shippou took charge of their pack mate, leading the shaking, pale Hiro inside to find him some fresh clothes and a blanket to warm up. Pups often needed other Pups to feel better after such an ordeal, and allowing the uninterrupted time to get over it would better spread the effectiveness of Akemi's punishment without her having to say a word further.

It was likely that the two children would inform Hiro that he had never actually been alone out there in the wilds and that may help to ease any trauma he may have felt. But hopefully it would not remove the lesson.

Akemi had sat awake all night, fully aware of each time the boy had woken in fright before dozing off again. She knew what had caused him fears before he'd been able to identify or rationalize them away. More she knew that the last one would most likely never leave him.

Akemi had allowed the boar to get that close without issue. Wild boar, despite their fierceness when confronted or defending their young were not particularly hostile creatures when left alone. She knew the pig would not have attacked Hiro needlessly as there was plenty of room to bolt, it was probably only foraging for food in its own regular routine.

Despite Akemi's own gruesome encounter with another such animal, she held no fear for Hiro unless the boy attacked wildly and cut off the creature from escape. The Feral had been certain that the human delinquent wasn't the type to brashly charge at a creature just because he was afraid. His cruel pranks denoted the habits of a more sneaky approach to things than a head on collision.

It was a gamble that things wouldn't get out of hand before she could intervene, but the risk was worth it as Hiro had never been likely to attack the creature he couldn't see.

"Mate," Sesshoumaru breathed in her ear, his hands already kneading at the sore muscles in her back. His relief to be back in her presence palpable and obviously strong. He worried.

Akemi sighed. She was well aware there was nothing she could do to prevent him from his anxieties where she was concerned. His trauma at losing her when she went Feral would simply require time to get over, but it still hurt her that he felt that way.

Back in the den, in the wilds of her escape, she hadn't understood his insecurities. She'd alleviated quite a bit of it by accident after that foolish Phone call from his Sire. Then she'd nearly died at the hands of her Hunter and renewed his fears for him.

It was why she never protested when he tried to steer her away from her duties to the pack. He was trying to keep her and the pups she carried healthy. He feared for her carrying so many. And he feared for caring for such a large pack. It amazed her how someone so strong and so admired for his capability could be so afraid all the time, but she wouldn't comment on it. She was Feral. Perhaps she was missing something.

However things were, it was often to her benefit to follow his direction when he was laboring under one of his fears, like now when he was urging her towards the spring for a soak. Her poor body was more achy than usual after her long vigil held in an uncomfortable tree. Even her aches seemed to have aches, and she was certain the acrobats in her belly were only so active in protest of the discomfort.

This Hiro problem had darn well better be solved because she didn't think she could handle another night in the woods like the last one any time soon.


	47. Ch 46 Further Lessoning

Hello, my lovely readers. It has been a while, but hopefully it hasn't been too difficult for you.

I don't believe this will take much longer to finish, provided I actually write it.

A note on this chapter. In Japan, most families do take baths together, small children with their parents whatever their sex. This is mainly do to the expensive costs of water on an island country. Most kids see it as a point of embarrassment to still be bathing with their parents once they've reached what we would consider first or second grade age. Also, most Japanese people do their washing _before_ entering a tub or hotspring. this is to help keep the water pure, conserving the amount used, as most traditional baths reheat the water in the tub for repeated use. This is the reason why we never see Kagome in her hotspring scenes with soap suds in her hair or around the rag she and/or Sango keep with them while soaking in the original show as Rumiko Takahashi created it.

I have kind of tried to keep to that truth in a sort of vague way and I've certainly had the characters taking group baths. I personally, would rather take a long hot shower that sit in a tub of water - especially one I had to share, but that's me and I am a product of the culture in which I was raised.

**Further Lessoning**

It is a fortunate thing that no one had ever left anything so serious as frost bite in Rin's eagerly, caring hands, for the first thing she intended to do with the half frozen Hiro was through him in a bath.

Had he truly been as frozen as her young mind believed him to be with how could he was to the touch, this could very well of killed him. Luckily for Hiro, he was just mostly tingly with reawakening nerves and slowly increasing warmth. That and Rin hesitated to get him into that bath immediately due to Sesshoumaru and Akemi's presence in said bath.

Rin and Shippou had both shared a bath with their alpha and her beta. It was common among families to share and while Rin was growing a bit too old for it, the sudden death of her parents had driven her to put off allowing anyone declare her so. Hiro was different though. He was young enough to still take baths with his parents. She just wasn't sure how he or Akemi would react to sharing with each other.

Even if Hiro desperately needed the bath, Rin wouldn't press him on Akemi's nerves. The alpha came first. Not because she was alpha, though that was part of it, but because Rin liked her better. Hiro was annoying at the best of times and just plain mean when ever he wasn't trying to get something out of you.

Some of the Broken Pack blamed it on his youth, telling Rin that he would grow out of it as he grew older, but she didn't believe it. Others declared it a direct result of his parents rearing abilities, but Rin just thought Hiro was genetically disposed towards being bad. Miroku was weird, but he made her laugh and Sango was somebody to look up to and admire. How could two such wonderful people produce..._Hiro_?

Rin was still stumped. For a while, she'd though that maybe he'd been switched at birth with Sango and Miroku's true son who was right now living with the horrible parents that had spawned Hiro. She'd heard stories about things like that happening. Her mama used to tell her stories of changelings and stuff. She'd though maybe Hiro was one of those. But Morenda and Shippou assured her that Hiro smelled too much like his parents for that to be possible. And if she was really honest, Hiro did kind of look like Miroku when he was pretending to look innocent. That usually only happened when Hiro was trying to get out of trouble for one of his terrible tricks. Miroku got that look when he was trying to play off one of his jokes or Inuyasha was reminding him of some antic none of the kids could remember.

She liked Miroku's reasons for looking like that better than Hiro's. From what Rin understood, Miroku had never been intentionally cruel the way that Hiro usually was, picking on the Broken Pack.

She still couldn't believe Hiro was really their kid.

Kaori and Mari weren't anything like Hiro, although they were very weird, whatwith really liking Hiro and stuff. The two were very quiet and timid. Rin herself wasn't even sure they could talk half the time as all she'd ever heard from them were sniffles when Hiro would get in trouble. They didn't even get mad when Hiro played pranks on them. And Rin was fairly certain they should, especially when such pranks proved dangerous to their health or scared the daylights out of them, which Hiro's tricks always seemed to do. Nothing could be said to them against Hiro though.

Rin got that you were supposed to care about family and that pack was like extended family too, but she also knew you didn't have to like all of your family. Rin was certainly aware that a lot of families didn't get along because of that very fact. Rin's mom had been in a situation like that. The situation had been so bad that Rin's grandparents had disowned Rin's mom before Rin was born. Subsequently, Rin had never met her maternal Grandparents and they had refused to acknowledge the little girl even after she'd been orphaned.

Rin hadn't been aware of it when she was stuck in the hospital waiting for someone to come get her. She hadn't known what grandparents were prior to Akemi's pack as her dad had been all alone in the world from the start.

Sometimes it amazed Rin, how quickly a life can change from something so simple as taking a hand. It wasn't so long ago that Rin was a silent often escaping patient of the Children's ward at the hospital. She was unhappy and unwilling to use her words on people who didn't seem to care about her at all.

Then Akemi stood outside the window of Shippou's ward and everything had changed. If Rin hadn't reached out for her clawed hand, she wouldn't be here now, a part of a new family that was larger and more invincible than her old one had ever been. It wasn't better than her mom and dad had been, for Rin loved them with an irreplaceable affection that couldn't be changed, but she never had to fear that her new pack would ever die out and leave her alone again.

For that, Rin would do anything to show her appreciation, even make sure Hiro didn't get sick by staying in cold, snow dampened clothes.

"Shippou," Rin called to her kitsune friend. She needed to know if Akemi and Sesshoumaru required privacy or if it was okay for them to enter. Shippou could smell that, though she wasn't sure how anybody could scent a need for privacy. Shippou hadn't proven wrong yet, so she decided to trust his super nose until he failed to be right.

"It's okay, Rin," Shippou replied, gingerly prodding his friend Hiro with a baby claw. Stronger claws would grow in as he got older, but for now Shippou was stuck with the shorter softer claws of his age. In a way, these were practice claws. A Kit his age didn't usually require his claws for actual self-defense, but he had them so he could learn how to use them properly before he really needed them. "What'd she do?" the kitsune demanded of the impossibly silent Hiro.

"Shippou!" Rin gasped, scandalized. "Can't that wait?"

"I want to know!" the kit answered. "He's not as lame as he's pretending he is. His scent is still healthy, though he is cold."

"Cold!" Hiro exclaimed, finally breaking his unusual quiet. "I was nearly eaten and all you can worry about is that I'm cold!"

"Eaten by what?" Shippou demanded skeptically even while Rin shoved the both of them towards the bath. "What would Akemi let close enough to eat you?"

"I don't know! But it was big and close and I heard it!"

"Oh, you heard it," Shippou scoffed as Rin pushed them both into the bathroom. He was less than impressed with Hiro's senses at the best of times.

"I did!" Hiro insisted beginning to fight against the pushy girl. He had heard something snuffling closer to his shelter, something that broke through the wooden mesh prepared to eat him.

"He did," Akemi declared, encroaching upon their childish spat before it could get any noisier. "But I doubt it intended to eat you." She added effectively bringing each boy up short.

"He did?"

"It wasn't going to eat me?"

"You don't look much like something a pig would usually eat," Akemi observed blandly as she continued to soak in the naturally heated water, resting against her beta and allowing her sore muscles to relax.

"Wild Boar?" Sesshoumaru intoned softly. He remembered what the result of her last encounter with such an animal had resulted in.

"Hn," she nodded. "True wild pigs have very little reason to attack in the forest and that one had absolutely no reason to. He'd been drawn by the freshly exposed earth, the scent of it rich with the sorts of things edible in the deep of winter."

"Eh?" Hiro's sound of disbelief was loud enough to echo in the confined space, annoying more than just the youkai ears. He couldn't believe she was trying to say that his actions the previous day had lead the monster that tried to eat him straight to him. "You are saying it was my fault?"

Akemi leveled a flat look at the boy standing rigidly beside the basin in which she and Sesshoumaru rested. "Had you not wasted so much energy throwing a pointless tantrum, you would not have drawn quite so much attention." The boy's stunned look prompted her to elaborate, "The boar was only the last creature to make an appearance, the rest were all frightened off before you noticed them."

"That's-" Hiro couldn't believe it. "You left me alone!"

Akemi closed her eyes and dismissed him.

"No she didn't," Rin asserted, secure in this singular truth. "She didn't come home even once since she took you into the woods."

"Even I heard the wolves a lot closer last night," Shippou nodded pointedly. "Then they suddenly went away."

Sesshoumaru glared at the impertinent boy, accusing his mate and alpha of abandoning him to the wilds. Not even Miroku and Sango would have assumed such.

"B-But I didn't sense her at all," Hiro protested.

"Do you sense her now?" Shippou asked pointedly.

The other boy blinked in surprise before realizing that despite what his eyes were telling him he certainly didn't sense her there. "N-no." That very fact suddenly made him nervous. Even low-level, basically powerless youkai left an impression on his inherited senses. Akemi was clearly a youkai, he'd assumed the reason he could never distinguish her specific aura around the Broken Pack was because she was so much weaker than they were. With only Sesshoumaru and Shippou around, he should have been able to to pick out hers easily.

"And you will not without her purposely allowing you to," Sesshoumaru added softly, carefully shifting the weight of his alpha against his shoulder. As time progressed, Akemi had proven to grow more greatly fatigued in shorter periods of time. It was rare that he actually saw her unconscious, but she had just spent the night awake in the forest watching the brat that was just now making it into the water. It didn't surprise him that she had dozed off in the water despite the conversation going on around her.

"I don't understand," Hiro shook his head as he curled up as small as he could get in the water. Rin and Shippou left to find Hiro something dry and clean to wear at Sesshoumaru's approving nod.

"That is apparent," Sesshoumaru almost snorted. "The question first should be what did you learn in your night spent amongst the wilds."

"Learn? I was too scared to learn anything," Hiro sniffled, the heat causing his sinuses to run.

"Why were you scared?" Sesshoumaru patiently demanded.

"Because I was alone. I was hungry, and I didn't know what to do," Hiro answered.

"Do not you think it was the same for Akemi when first she was in the wild? Do you not think it would be the same for any youkai on the verge of going Feral to realize the same?"

"But they're older, and youkai," Hiro argued convinced they should have less reason to feel like he did.

"And they receive their meals from a store and live in homes already built by others from materials prepared by third parties. Do you think any one of them first dropped into such a savage wilderness would know where to find food or shelter?" Sesshoumaru rebuffed him. "Akemi tells us that most of the Ferals who reach the wilds die within the first year from starvation and exposure. The same things that you dealt with in your one night. The difference is that you knew you could come back, Ferals do not often have that option." Sesshoumaru ran a clawed hand through the pinked locks of his alpha. "Those who survive do so by learning quickly how to move about with stealth and efficiency. There is luck involved as to whether they manage to find adequate shelter from the dangers they face, and there are many. For Ferals have no allies even amongst Ferals."

"That's why everybody's so worried about the Broken Pack, isn't it?" Hiro realized.

"Hn," the inu youkai agreed evenly. "Akemi has been the only one to ever return from the wild without causing harm to society despite the harm it attempted to do her. The things she has to teach us will always serve a purpose just like the fact that you cannot sense her has served her purpose. In the wild she had to hide from all the other predators which meant she had to be able to hide better than they."

"That's why I can't sense her."

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru acknowledged, "although, if she were to drop her control in such confined quarters she could possibly suffocate you with the sheer magnitude of her youki."

"Is she really powerful?" the boy asked with some surprise. Surely it wasn't true.

"You could ask Kagome, Aramanda, or Morenda for further verification. They were there when Akemi dropped it," Sesshoumaru declared mildly. He didn't really care if the boy preferred further support of his claims, Sesshoumaru told the truth and further inquiry would only prove it. "Though her efforts to keep you safe in the night may have endangered her in future."

"What do you mean? She wasn't even there," Hiro insisted.

Sesshoumaru almost growled in frustration. "You may not have been able to sense her just like you weren't able to sense half of the predators that came sniffing after you last night, but I assure you she was there. I felt the warning pulses of her youki as she scared off your would be killers."

Hiro flushed, but like any inquisitive six year old boy refused to leave of questioning something he didn't understand. "How would that have endangered her? I thought you said she scared everything off with her youki."

"Is Miss Akemi in danger, Mister Sesshoumaru?" Rin gasped as she and the Kitsune reentered with a pile of folded clothing for Hiro.

It was possible the kids had not been filled in fully on the situation since the adults who were fully appraised of it had seemingly forgotten of the originally grounds for Akemi being brought out of the wilds. "Akemi didn't leave the wilds of her own will," Sesshoumaru stated. "She was being hunted by another Feral, one who was fixed on obtaining her despite the passage of time and her unwillingness to be caught. Eventually, he caught up with her while in the presence of this Sesshoumaru and caused her such damage that we were driven from the wild to seek out Kagome." It still bothered him that Akemi had nearly died that day. "There is no reason to believe that the Feral in question has given up, especially if he's sensed the spikes of her youki first in the council meeting immediately after her reintroduction into society and then later tonight while she watched over Hiro in the woods."

"Would he hurt her?" Rin asked, anxious tears already gathering in her eyes. The feral female was very special to her for obvious reasons.

Shippou splashed some of the sulfurous water at Rin to get her to stop crying. The discordant scent of salt was disturbing the exhausted Feral's rest. "Stop that!" he huffed. "There's a difference from before and now. Now there's a whole pack to get in the way and prevent and such thing from happening!"

Rin blinked before offering him a grateful smile, "Right!"


	48. Ch 47 Times of Change

This actually turned out to be a mega long chapter, such that the word count surprised me.

Stadard disclaimers and all that. A lot has been going on since we last saw our characters, but a few things remained the same. Akemi is still pregnant. Hiro is still obnoxious. Kikyou is still dead. Kagome is still frustrated and Inuyasha somehow remains more of a footnote. I don't know how that last happened though, He's such a strong personality, but He and Sesshoumaru never did spend a lot of time together. Maybe that's why.

A little bit more, I'm afraid. Thank you for being so patient and sticking with me through this. I don't think I quite realized what I'd bitten off when I wrote _Feral_ way back when. But boy, do I know now!

**Times of Change**

The more time passed over the Broken Pack and the Taishou estate, the faster changes swept over all things associated with the pack. And there were a lot of changes to be found.

Some changes were natural, such as the slow thaw after the harsh cold months of ice and snow. The grounds became soft and muddy in places giving most of the Taishou pups and some of the broken pack plenty of opportunity to play in the mud. There were frustrating days when Sango and Kagome came home from counsel meetings to find their children (and often times their spouses) caked with mud and obviously proud of themselves. Depending on how the counsel sessions went on any particular day, the miko and slayer would either burst into laughter and be surrounded by a sudden group hug attack or irritated by their respective male's ineptitude when it came to minding their young.

Other changes were specifically planned out, such as the installment of a medical clinic inside the Taishou mansion. It took a handful of weeks to move in all the equipment Dr. Chorin insisted would be necessary for a stand alone clinic intended to service the needs of all the broken pack. Most of it was expensive and heavy, but Kagome bullied the Taishou into forking over the funds for both the purchase of top-of-the-line pieces and the necessary crews needed to properly set them up for use.

With the equipment, came the need for a doctor. The doctore of choice was of course, Audrey Chorin, the medical practitioner in charge of Akemi's pregnancy. Dr. Chorin deamnded the rescue of her sister from her pending mating before she woul even consider taking the job. Akemi and Kikyou insisted the demand be met, not because they were that attached to Audrey, but because Akemi couldn't keep from seeing to all the members of the Broken Pack, even the ones not currently in her care. So great efforts were made to attempt it.

Kagome tried approaching the Chorin parents directly without success. Her long standing position as the protector and advocate of the Broken Pack did not impress them, especially since she was one of the driving powers behind installing a feral as alpha of that pack. They weren't impressed by Akemi's past efforts to protect their scarred daughter as she obviously hadn't been effective enough. Their sweet Caroline had still wound up terrified of everyone and everything, including herself. Nothing Kagome could say would convince mom and pop Chorin to let go of their daughter, least of all into the care of the Broken Pack.

Sango wanted to go and use strong arm tactics. Akemi's requests were few and far between and the elder Chorin sister needed to be on the road to recovery anyway. Leaving Caroline Chorin with her parents had already proven unproductive, and with the date of her mating looming nearer every passing day, the chances she would fall became increasingly inevitable. Surely the Chorin parents wanted what was best for their abused child above all else. Sango understood their decision to go through with a mating before Akemi took over the alpha position of the Broken Pack, there had been no real options besides letting things go on as they had or doing something to change. Now there was Akemi, and everyone exposed to her was doing much better than they were. They just hadn't seen the changes in all the members of the Broken Pack since Akemi's coming.

It was so hard for all closely associated with the Broken Pack to step back and remember that not everyone was privileged to observe members of the Broken Pack before and after. Due to this simple fact, it was all but impossible to convince anyone unconnected with the majority of the Broken Pack of the miracles simply being near Akemi could bring the abused and borderline youkai females.

Even the Taishou agreed that, despite the seeming insanity of placing a feral as alpha of a pack full of members likely to become feral, all of the Broken Pack had improved since Akemi's first arrival on Taishou property. As such he had offered to go himself to the Chorin's and argue the case, but he'd been blocked at the door and prevented from proceeding any further. The Cardinal Lord of another territory certainly didn't impress them.

In the end, all it took was a single visit from Akemi, Sesshoumaru and, wonder of wonders, Horace to the betrothed male of Caroline Chorin. Once the Feral alpha guaranteed Caroline's male the ability to court his female in privacy any time he so desired at the big Taishou house he stepped up to insist her parents send Caroline to live with the rest of the Broken Pack. Mom and pop Chorin had a tendency to sit in on all his visits to Caroline. Which is not to say he planned to do anything untoward to the female he courted, but it was so hard to build up a relationship under the overbearing eyes of worried parents.

With the advent of Dr. Chorin's reign over the now official clinic of the Broken Pack, Dr. Chorin insisted all classes held for the benefit of courting males of the broken pack be suspended once she discovered just how disrespectful the so-called students were being in relation to Akemi and her beta when either one attempted to hand out a lesson. Akemi had already been banned from attending months ago due to the stress upon her person, but the last thing the very pregnant feral needed was for her mate to be stressed out either. The Feral's blood pressure simply couldn't handle such a continuous source of upset, though it was doing much better now that the female never had to leave the grounds.

The announcement to that effect was met with such vehement protest and ire that all visitors were evicted from the building, including Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippou, and a number of males that had been cleared to court their females privately and had nothing to do with the classes in question. These slighted males had promptly driven the idiots responsible for their unfair punishment off the Taishou property, a number of whom fell victim to the new traps and snares set out as part of Hiro's new hobby.

The Students weren't let back in for a week. Everybody else were stuck waiting outside until the next morning. Not a one went home, worried for the upset and anger that would have caused such a reaction from the Broken Pack.

After Akemi's extremely effective lesson, Hiro had avoided the Taishou manse almost entirely. The boy spent most of his time on the far reaches of the property using his experience pranking everybody else to create ways to increase the security of the grounds. His efforts had garnered the attention of the Taishou when he caught the big inu youkai in one of his more effective traps. After the annoying adult finally got all the bellowing over with and was informed as to why Hiro had chosen to hide a trap where he did, the Taishou had volunteered, albeit informally, to help him.

It was self defense really, as the only member of the Taishou or Broken Packs to walk the grounds extensively (as part of his recent habit of walking with his grandpups), it was imperative that Taishou knew the existence and placement of all the security measures in place. His dignity could little stand another pitfall after the feminine takeover that had been in the works for the last several months. Besides, Hiro's inexperience deemed that a number of his so-called traps wouldn't be as effective as they were elaborate. Might as well insure the boy's efforts be capable of doing what he wanted them to do.

For Hiro's efforts, nothing could have been better, for the Taishou had been quite mischievous in his youth and had developed a number of traps himself as a boy. For Taishou, there could have been little more likely to endear him to the pups of his pack. This was obviously very important to the children, though the Taishou remained ignorant as to why.

Nobody else bothered to question Hiro's sudden move to the great out doors for his exploits, they simply dismissed it as none of the Broken Pack went screaming naked through the house any more. His antics no longer created mass hysteria, thus his efforts to muck up the grounds hardly mattered to anyone else.

As was inevitable in the line of pregnant females, Akemi's grew in both girth and ungainliness. The pack had responded to her altering shape and stamina by establishing a receiving room for her. A first floor space in the middle of the house where the pack and visiting males could approach her for comfort or the required permission to move about the place. It was a very popular room and while Akemi did not spend all of her day there, it was slowly becoming equipped with all the necessities required to make trips to any other part of the house obsolete. Almost.

Dr. Chorin swiftly progressed from weekly checks to checking Akemi over at least once daily. And she refused to perform any duties outside of the designated clinic. A number of the pack complained about her strange rule, but Akemi dismissed it. It seemed the alpha fully understood the physician's reasoning.

The biggest, and perhaps most surprising change in the pack had to do with the sudden and inexplicable change in the pups' sleeping habits.

Rin and Shippou had occasionally slept up at the big house rather than in the isolated den that housed Sesshoumaru and Akemi, but it was their preferred place of rest in most cases. Neither felt comfortable sleeping elsewhere without at least the other, but after Hiro's lesson in the wild and Akemi's all night absence, neither youth had slept anywhere but in the private den of their alpha.

This wasn't terribly surprising given that both pups feared abandonment having suffered great loss before. What was surprising, was Hiro's refusal to return home. No one had expected that the spoiled, mischievous brat would respond to the unusual scolding of their feral alpha by insisting on staying close to her. It made no discernible sense to anybody, let alone his somewhat amazed and hysterical parents. Miroku and Sango, prior to Hiro's all night sojourn in the woods, had always insisted the boy return home at night. Part of this was due to Sango's concern for the Broken Packs exposure to the a impish child without break. Her opinion formed from the half information concerning Hiro's many pranks. Miroku's insistence was driven mainly for concern over the boy's exposure to the borderline Feral youkai in the pack. And Hiro had never been invited to stay over to Inuyasha's house due to Takara's increasingly limited tolerance for her cousin, a tolerance that grew shorter with every trick played upon the Broken Pack.

The night spent out in the forest was actually the first Hiro had spent away from home in months. Both of his parents had expected him to come back to them anxious to stay at home, moderately humbled by his punishment, whatever it was. Instead, Hiro reappeared to them just as willful and determined as ever, just his aim had changed. And his attitude towards the pack at large. He still treated most of the adults with disdain given their pussyfooting around issues and his perception of their senility regarding the dangers to Akemi herself. Hell, the whole pack was floored by the turn around they saw in him. The greatest change being that every night Hiro insisted upon retiring back to Akemi and Sesshoumaru's house.

Then Takara began to beg her parents to let her go as well. Her wish to sleep out among the slowly growing immediate pack of the alpha had little to do with Hiro beyond the example he set. The young, puppy-eared girl had often desired to stay with the older Rin to the point of staying up at the Taishou manse whenever the other girl did. Now that Rin no longer did so, she missed the closeness of sleeping near her friend and sharing the silliness of late night giggles she couldn't get at home with only her infantile brother for company. In shorter time than, required for Hiro, Takara had her way and had joined the growing group of pups gathering about Akemi and Sesshoumaru's den. Occasionally, she even talked her parents into letting her bring Shin along now that he slept through the night and was capable of crawling a bit on his own.

Her new closeness with the other pups made her privy to the sudden reason behind the changes in the others. They were all of them determined to stick close to Akemi and help protect her. Shippou almost never left her side. Rin stood at the door of the receiving room approving any and all entrants in her special way. Hiro spent his days building his traps which Takara now learned the hidden meaning behind. It was her idea to test them by leading her grandfather right into one.

The success of Hiro's trap was only proven greater with the addition of so knowledgeable a trap builder as the Taishou choosing to advise them.

In their independent way, all of the pups were working to protect their alpha. Even Shin, who could do little more than distract the adults when the older pups asked for a diversion did his part. The only ones still left out were Kaori and Mari, and after tonight, that would no longer be true.

For tonight, all of the Taishou pups were sleeping over with the Alpha for the first time. Even Shin was allowed to attend for the second night in a row, something that had been unheard of before. None of the parents involved knew quite what to make of it, but they all went along with it regardless. Takara had seen to it the girls were allowed to join and Hiro had already seen to his place.

For once the Taishou himself had seen fit to blow off worries for exposing the pups unsupervised to the feral female. And he had been the biggest opposition to this unexpected new sleeping arrangement. None of the pack knew exactly what went on with the pups, the alpha and her beta once they retreated beyond Kagome's barrier, but all of the pups emerged each morning looking fully rested and energized so nothing truly terrible could be going on.

In truth nothing untoward was going on. Nearly all of the pups bathed in the large spring fed basin in Sesshoumaru's bathroom, splashing water and secrets every which way while Rin attempted to supervise by virtue of her greater years. Akemi and Sesshoumaru would appear when it was understood bathtime had lasted quite long enough and Rin would usher all of the younger pups out of the room to dress and get ready for bed, leaving the alpha and her mate the facilities to use in peace.

All of the pups would gather in a big pile on a nest of blankets created in the living room, as it was the only room large enough to hold them and the two adult inu youkai that watched over them. Bed time was initially a rambunctious party until the first pup began to slow down with a yawn. Most nights the pups would entertain themselves quietly as they settled to the blankets and pillows or ask questions of Akemi and Sesshoumaru about anything that struck their fancy. With the addition of Kaori and Mari, however, the topic of a story was brought up.

"Who will tell us a story?" Kaori asked in a small, insecure voice.

"Hmph!" Hiro scoffed dismissively. "Only babies need stories to go to sleep!" his sisters immediately began to tear up, upset at being called babies, scared at the sudden reality of being away from home at bed time, and sad that they had once again proven less than their brother expected them to be.

"My mom used to tell me stories," Rin declared hotly. "She told them right up until the bad things happened and I was ten." The two youngest girls calmed slightly.

"Then will you tell them a story?" Takara asked for her little cousins. Both the younger girls were incredibly timid, she doubted either one of them would speak up again tonight after being so harshly rebuffed by their hero.

"I don't know how to tell a story," Rin pursed her lips thoughtfully. "What about you Shippou? Do you know any stories to tell?"

The little kit gazed sympathetically at the tearful females a little saddened himself at having to shake his head, "I just know fox strategies. My pa believed a kit learned things better if they slept on it. They're very informative for a growing Kit, but not very entertaining."

Akemi waddled in, closely followed by Sesshoumaru, but only because her girth prevented him from walking beside her through the doorway. Carefully, Sesshoumaru helped his mate settle down into the separate arrangement of blankets and pillows next to the pile of pups. Neither had to glance at the growing accumulation of pups to know something was wrong. Any youkai with a decent sense of smell could detect the water works both past and soon to be born. The sharp eared adults listened to the evolving conversation for a few minutes before Akemi addressed her beta.

"What are the speaking of?"

"Some parents tell their children bedtime stories as a form of bonding. The stories are meant to help the pups settle in preparation of sleep, giving them something to dream about. Most prefer that they also convey a lesson or moral of some sort," Sesshoumaru explained. "Apparently the monk and slayer customarily tell such stories to their girls and they are upset and uncertain at this upset of their usual nightly schedule."

"They need this 'story' to achieve rest?" Akemi questioned further.

"No, when they are tired enough they will sleep anyway, but it may not be as restful as it would be if they were not upset before achieving it," he answered. "They may wake in the night, having suffered a night mare."

"The others do not ask for the same," she observed. "Would they benefit from such things?"

"Hn," Sesshoumaru considered the other pups carefully. "It is unlikely that Inuyasha would tell tales to his young, as our sire did not do so for either of us as pups and the miko's mother was often at work during what would have been her bedtime. Most youkai choose to tell their pups real lessons rather than light stories as the kit described of his father. He would most likely appreciate the quiet communication before sleep regardless of the subject matter though. Rin is human and has already imparted that her mother told her bedtime stories as well." Sesshoumaru studied all of the pups as they tried to find a solution to Kaori and Mari's increasing upset. "I do not think telling a story would bring them harm, though this Sesshoumaru is as incapable of doing so as the pups themselves." The admission made him momentarily sad. Akemi had been something of a story teller before her great hardships.

"Hn," she hummed gently.

"Uncle Sesshoumaru," Takara called gently when it was clear the pups couldn't solve the story issue on their own. "Do you know any stories?" The rest of the pups from a very hopeful Rin to a pair of teary-eyed human girls and a confused half inu male, stared at him with undivided attention.

"What are these stories usually about?" Akemi inquired.

"Talking animals, clever boys and girls, that kind of stuff," Hiro sniffed disdainfully. "There's always something that happens that needs to be overcome and mostly somebody smart manages to overcome it one way or another."

"All right then," Akemi nodded sharply.

Sesshoumaru gazed at her in surprise, "You know a story?"

Akemi snorted at him before refocusing on the intrigued pile of pups. "Far, far distant. Deep in the wilds where the rule of nature is absolute and predators hunt prey as is always intended, there was a fine hawk."

Kaori blinked in surprise and Mari started to suck her thumb wearily. It was Takara who asked the question, "Was it a pretty hawk?"

"It was not any more beautiful than any other hawk found in nature," Akemi replied.

"Then what made it so fine?' Hiro demanded haughtily.

"The fact that it was exactly the way nature intended it to be," Akemi replied shortly before continuing with the story. "As most hawks in the wild, this hawk spent his time hunting his prey and defending his territory from encroaching predators. What time he wasn't hunting or actively policing his hunting grounds he spent perched atop a high tree observing the land over which he ruled."

"So he was a royal hawk," Rin suggested.

"Hn," Akemi considered the efficacy of declaring the unlikelihood of sovereignty in nature, but dismissed the unnecessary lesson. Clearly, her little human pup merely intended to add more whimsy to the tale for the benefit of the younger members of the audience and therefore chose not to address it. "Like all raptors, nature had gifted him with sharp eye sight, the better to see his prey from the sky and he used this gift to note the movements of his future prey for later needs. Time passed and fewer and fewer predators attempted to encroach on his long established territory, freeing up more time to observe all that he ruled."

"Didn't he get bored?" Hiro huffed. "I mean, if he's not fighting off other birds as much as he used to be, what does he have to do with himself?"

"Lucky for the hawk, he was an intelligent creature and therefore capable of entertaining himself without the requirement of outside intervention," the story teller declared flatly and Sesshoumaru chuckled. Clearly the alpha was growing impatient with all the unnecessary interruptions. "As he spent a large bit of his time observing the other animals that lived in the forest around him, he began to notice how the other creatures lived in comparison to himself. Mice and rabbits and squirrels and other prey animals lived and burrowed in groups, but the hawk flew the skies alone. This seemed an aberration in the plans of nature, one he could not understand the purpose of."

"The poor hawk," Rin sniffed sadly. "He must be lonely."

"Hn, perhaps," Akemi magnanimously let the observation slide. Nearly all the rest of the pups were sniffing over the hawk's perceived loneliness also. The only pup refusing to appear affected was Hiro. "The hawk did not understand why the mice and other animals lived in groups while he lived alone or what purpose it would serve to live in such colonies as they did and he wanted to know. Being a creature who had never had reason for great fear and gifted by nature with a fairly forward disposition, the Hawk decided go directly to these creatures and ask them for the reasons they lived in groups while he lived alone."

"Did they tell him?" Kaori gasped.

"Unfortunately, being a hawk, most of the other animals were terrified of him and ran away afraid that he was going to eat them." The Feral continued blandly, beginning to grow weary of this story telling thing. "This greatly upset the hawk, as he had no intention of eating them just then, he just desired to ask questions. Eventually, he managed to get close enough to a group of trapped mice to whom he tried to assure of this same point. The mice being absolutely scared of him, squeaked out that they wouldn't believe him. A hawk was no friend to a mouse and therefore could not be spoken with for any amount of time beyond simple sounds of terror."

"Well, that's just plain mean of them," Takara huffed. "He already told them he wasn't going to eat them!"

"The mice were well within their rights to disbelieve the hawk's intentions. No hawk before had ever just wanted to talk," Akemi gently shook her head. "The hawk was persistent though and focused all of his observations on this one group of mice. Eventually, the hawk figured out that part of the benefit of living with a group was always having someone to talk with. The hawk rather fancied being able to discuss some of his observations with someone else for a change, for what good is knowledge if it is not shared? Once again he attempted to approach the mice and after promising not to hunt them, the mice promised to be his friend and answer his questions."

"Time passed, and in order to honor his promise, the hawk avoided hunting any mice to insure he never accidentally took up one with whom he shared promise. Instead he hunted other animals until those animals became scarce and the mice thrived and overran his territory." Akemi's eyes grew glassy and distant. "The hawk began having to hunt farther and farther away from his territories to find enough to eat, given that the mice were displacing the other animals by shear numbers. He began to have less time to spend with his new friends in great discussions because he spent so much more time hunting. He was even beginning to cross into territories that were not his simply to find something to eat. The hawk was growing thin and haggard, but still he kept his word because the mice remained his friends."

"One day, while the Hawk was hunting in areas far distant to his original territory, another hawk encroached upon his grounds, drawn by the great number of mice who had grown lazy in their efforts to stay hidden. This strange bird swooped down from the sky and made off with a number of the fat and lazy creatures long before the native Hawk returned from his own efforts at finding food."

"Oh no!" Takara cried.

"When the hawk returned to his friends he was shocked to find that none would come out to speak with him. Instead they accused him from the shadows and underbrush that had been their hiding places in former days." Akemi murmured onward

"He didn't do it!" Shippou protested.

"Indeed," Akemi agreed. "But to mice, one hawk is much like another so as much as the original hawk protested his innocence, none of the mice would talk to him again as they used to. In depressed defeat, the hawk flew up to the highest reaches of the trees and sat in mournful silence, his sharp eyes turned inwards instead of observing all that was beyond him. Eventually, he flew to a new hunting ground, completely giving up the old as he could not bring himself to break his promise even though the mice had broken theirs."

"But that's not fair," Hiro grumbled.

"What is fair?" the Feral female tilted her head to the side curiously. "These bedtime stories are meant to teach something, are they not?"

"Well, yeah," Hiro admitted grudgingly, "but the Hawk should've gotten his revenge on the rotten mice for not believing him."

"How? By breaking his promise?" Akemi asked.

"Promises are meant to be kept," Takara declared stoutly. "He shouldn't have made it in the first place."

"Wise pup," Sesshoumaru rumbled. "A friend who is a true friend should never require you to give up something that is a necessary part of your nature. By limiting his diet thusly, the hawk's health suffered. No friend would allow that to happen."

"But they wouldn't talk to him otherwise!" Kaori argued, eyes shiny with sympathy for the story bird's plight, her sister nodded vigorously in agreement. "He was lonely

"Who said the hawk had to talk to mice?" Shippou scoffed. "There had to be other animals he could of talked to, ones that wouldn't have automatically seen him as a threat."

"Like what?" Rin asked curiously.

"Like deer!" Shippou declared. "Deer live in groups, and no hawk ever could take down a deer by swooping down on them from the sky. Or he could have found a lady hawk or something."

"Was that sufficient for a story?" Akemi asked tiredly. Like the pups, she was ready for a good sleep and would simply like to get on with it.

Shin was the pup who answered by clapping his small hands with glee.

"It was a weird story," Hiro sniffed.

"What the heck kind of stories do your parents tell you?" Rin grumped. "Some of my mom's favorite fables weren't that different from the story Miss Akemi just told us."

"I liked it," Takara averred stoutly.

"I believe, it served its purpose," Sesshoumaru assured his weary mate. Watching as the thoughtful and argumentative pups began to settle a mumble their way into dreaming. Akemi herself probably beat most of them to it given that she was not sleeping very well most nights, her altering contours making comfort a foreign word.

It did not take the rest long to fall to dreaming until it was only Sesshoumaru basking in the inconsistent rhythm of breathes taken by six pups and his breeding alpha. It was not often he got to observe all those present in their sleep for it seemed as if one of their number was always waking to glance at the others and reassure themselves that no one had gone missing. The inu youkai was uncertain of what caused this inherent anxiety in all of the pups that they all woke up frequently throughout the night to check on each other and most often on Akemi. It was as if they feared something for her. The alpha herself woke often, but her behavior could be explained by the discomfort created by her growing pups. Perhaps tonight, all would sleep through the night, Sesshoumaru hoped mildly before falling to slumber himself.


	49. Ch 48 One Quiet Morning

Okay, so yeah, I completely understand that you might want to lynch me right now. I wasn't planning to take so long to update, but...

Well, in the last month my AC broke down three times. (got that? Three separate times!) and for everyday that it didn't get fix I lost two (count 'em _two_) days/nights of sleep when the temperature inside my apartment began to reach and then surpass nintey degrees. It's kind of hard to force yourself to hug a little heat maker like a computer in order to write anything in that kind of setting. and the interrupted sleep was likewise not conducive to creativity either, let me tell you.

On to of that, our lovely management at work decided to go crazy last minute for MHRA audit we had, piling even more onto our already over loaded schedules due to being shorthanded. So naturally I was stressed out, and we all know I read more than I write when too stressed for creativity of my own.

Additionally I averaged about 45 hours per week for the entire month of July...which might not seem so terrible _except_ I only get paid for 40. and everyday is so trying that I wind up completely wrung out long before my fingers could reach my keyboard.

So yeah, I'm lazy.

Actually to be truthful, my side projects are drawing more attention than this one, but that's only because they are easier to write for than _Wild_ is. I think I've learned my lesson. No more serious anything. It's just too draining to write, but enough of my excuses.

I blame Rumiko Takahashi for giving such characters to work with. (not really! Most of her characters were seldom very serious, which is probably what made it so hard to write them that way.)

Anyways, here's the latest chapter, hot off the presses...sort of.

**One Quiet Morning**

As expected, Akemi spent as much of the night awake as she did unconscious. She would manage to find a comfortable enough position to doze off for awhile before her joints and muscles began to protest the prolonged press of her unborn pups and wake her back up so the ritual could repeat itself over and over throughout the night. Some nights she gave up long before dawn due to an inability to find a position that didn't disturb her constantly aching joints. Last night, sometime in the early morning, the unborn pups dragging at her middle had grown considerably more active than usual. This added irritant naturally infringed upon the already dwindling hours of sleep she could claim. Really, she had never known the fetuses to shift about so much it was painful, but there you have it.

She was more than ready to expel the little parasites from her overtaxed body.

Most nights, one or more of the pups would wake as well. She had previously believed the cause was her restlessness. Last night, all of the pups had slept through the night, proving that telling a pointless story such as she had woven for them prior to slumber truly had a beneficial affect on them.

Even Sesshoumaru had found a full night's sleep last night, proving that the missing disturbance of anxiously waking pups was beneficial to him as well.

When the first intrepid pioneers of dawn pierced the darkness hovering in the air above the sleeping members of her most intimate pack, Akemi knew it was about time to give up on acquiring any more rest for the time being. It didn't really surprise her that she was awake to witness the sun's daily march against the environs of night. It was a daily battle she was always conscious to watch.

Back in the wild, in her secret den, Akemi seldom took time to watch the slow change of night and day, and she often had the chance to do so. The best times to hunt were at dusk and dawn, but in the wild her focus had been on obtaining her next meal and not on the slowly growing or fading light.

With the need to hunt completely eliminated by the willingness of her pack to supply her need, a feral could easily grow bored enough to simply watch paint dry out of curiosity. Sunrise and Sunset were certainly far more interesting to watch provided she was awake at the proper times to do so. Akemi seldom missed the dramatic movement of the sun.

Akemi watched the golden tide steal across the floor, because she was awake to do so. Her thoughts were not filled with wonder or awe at this simple reality, she was just observing it, cataloging each growing pool of light and slowly expunged shadow almost clinically.

With great effort, Akemi managed to lever herself up from her prone position on the pallet she shared with her mate up onto her feet before once again casting her watchful gaze over the pups in her charge. Unlike all previous sweeps of her eyes, this time she found one missing.

Akemi wasn't alarmed by the youngest girl's absence from the pile. The child had obviously not left the den given that the feral had at no point felt the draft of the outer door opening and then shutting. She had become very sensitive to minute temperature changes, as even the smallest amount too warm or too cool could disturb her sleep and induce a physical reaction. It was why the pups were piled in a separate set of blankets rather than curled up around her and Sesshoumaru. Sometimes just Sesshoumaru was too much to sleep beside.

Padded feet crossed the bare floor following the scent of the lone wakeful pup. All of the pups woke up at different times naturally. Before their pup pile began to swell from just Shippou and Rin, the two were often up fairly early without any outside interference. When Hiro joined the group, he would rise earlier than the other two and then go about waking his fellows almost immediately as if he couldn't stand to be conscious alone.

Takara had changed the dynamic again as Hiro seemed almost terrified to wake her. There was no reason for it, that Akemi had witness, but then, Hiro had never actually woken the female up since joining them. Shin was protected by his sister's apparent fierceness as Hiro had never made the attempt and both the mixed heritage pups slept soundly past the rise of the sun on most days.

In point of fact, none of the other pups woke with the sun, not even Hiro who woke earlier than all the rest. This was her golden hour, the time between night and day in which all was quiet and peaceful and closest to the quiet of her den in the wild. Only this was better because she wasn't alone, she had pack, and there was nothing that could top this preview of her own pups to come. Not that these pups were any less precious for being birthed by someone else, belonging to someone else.

Mari's scent lead into the sun drenched room that faced the Taishou manse and the grounds in between. The passage of time had stained the view a lush green across the lawns. The main house hadn't really changed, but it seemed more alive surrounded by all the awakening flora. There were a number of brown patches here and there, where the mud won out against the green of growing things aided by the occasional visit of pups loose from their minder.

Perched in front of the low window sill of that large picture window, was Mari, scratching away at some scrap of paper with the color sticks Akemi had seen Rin, Takara and occasionally even Shippou toy with. Hiro generally insisted he was too old for them and instead used another stick-like implement which achieved the same purpose with less color, but the end results were often the same: unidentifiable images of incredible importance to the pup that made them. Akemi, Sesshoumaru and even the other pups could never make out what exactly these amateur sketches were meant to be without hints from the original artist.

Akemi purposely brushed noisily against the side of the doorway. Nonferals were uniformly unobservant of their surroundings, especially when indoors. She didn't want to startle Mari. Young things had a tendency for making a lot of noise when surprised and she had no desire to shorten the restful peace found by the others.

Mari whipped around to see what had made that noise and beamed cheerfully at Akemi over her shoulder upon perceiving the Feral Female. A moment later the little girl was on her feet and moving to capture one of Akemi's clawed hands. It never failed that when one of the pups sought her attention they always reached for one or the other of her hands.

Upon successfully grasping said appendage, Mari happily hugged it to her nuzzling it against her cheek before tugging eagerly in the direction of the abandoned drawing.

"Look! Look!" Mari pointed excitedly at the patches of color on the scrap of paper with the last color stick she'd never remembered to put down. "He's not lonely anymore!"

By the strange brown shading of one blob depicted and the protrusion of two stick-like three pronged appendages, Akemi was drawn to conclude Mari had intended to draw the hawk of the previous night's story. The creature in Mari's picture had somehow found a way to morph feathers into a hand which in turn held the hand of the other pictured beside it.

"I will be the birdy's friend!" Mari announced sincerely and Akemi started. "I won't let him be alone any more!" The child's satisfied declaration came with a sharp nod and a return of the crayon to the paper. Mari began to draw some more on the page, a third figure on the other side of the identified Hawk character whilst continuing to talk. "Mari will listen to him and talk with him and answer his questions and he won't have to worry about not hunting Mari, because Mari is too big!"

Watching the pup in continued effort to make the fictitious bird of prey happy, akemi was surprised when the new companion taking shape on the wood pulp product took on the distinct coloring of a member of the broken pack. Pink was not a hair color shared by many, few besides Akemi had developed the shade during their time of torture, but of them all only Akemi spent consistent time with all of the pups. In the Feral's mind it would have seemed more likely for the little girl to draw one of her two siblings, maybe on of the other pups, or even her own parents. But instead...

"Look!" the little girl bathed in the sunlight streaming from the picture window called Akemi's attention more stridently to the increasingly colorful depiction locked on paper. "First Mari is his friend and now A'emi is his mommy, like Rin and Shippou! Mari will keep from feeling lonely and A'emi will keep him from being hurt ever again!"

Akemi was stunned. True she had taken in the Kitsune and little human pup, but they were not meant to belong to her. Each had already had mothers, and the feral had never supposed that anyone could replace such a vital relation. The feral female had also taken on the protection of the Broken Pack and the majority of the Taishou's pack upon her removal from the wild. The need was their and her instincts had driven her to assume the responsibility.

She expected the adult members of the pack to understand her purpose and the benefit from her care. That some had not, was a stumbling block still being cleared up, but it had also lead her to assume that something that was so ambiguously confusing to the wiser members of her rather large pack could not be fully comprehended by some of the pups as well. Hiro had not understood it properly until Akemi and her intimate pack and taught him better. It was surprising that this little one so much younger and so directly related to him had such a firm grasp of it as to forgo the more prominent figures of security and safety in her young life and grant Akemi the honor of protecting this creature of the imagination that currently meant so much to the mind of Mari.

And it was a great honor despite the reality that there was no need for Akemi to protect the Hawk of last night's story. The developing pictograph under Mari's hand illustrated the trust and faith in Akemi's capability to protect against all dangers.

The pups about her middle shifted sharply again and Akemi drew in a long breath to get through the discomfort.

Mari who, while being young and quiet, was incredibly observant dropped her crayon and rose to her feet abruptly in concern. "A'emi, okay?"

"I am fine," Akemi answered her calmly. The little girl continued to watch her anxiously despite the reassuring words. Luckily movement beyond the wide window drew her attention and that of the child fidgeting beside her.

"Mommy!" Mari clapped happily. The slayer and Monk had apparently risen early and presently made to camp out on the grand lawn expanse just outside the miko barrier that kept all others out.

"Hnn, it appears they are impatient to be reunited with their children," Akemi murmured to the delighted human pup. "Perhaps they were lonely too."

Mari gasped, "We made them lonely?" salty tears began to collect at the corner of her eyes at the mere thought.

Akemi glanced down at the pup, startled by her reaction. "Perhaps a little bit, they are not completely alone, for they do have each other." The feral tried to placate the pup quietly, almost absently. There was something coming that she was beginning to sense on the edges of her perception. It was vaguely familiar but Akemi couldn't quite place it. "Maybe you and your siblings shouldn't all leave them at the same time too often, hmm? It appears to make them anxious."

"They're not lonely?" Mari questioned the pink haired inu.

"No, not lonely," Akemi confirmed. "More like unused to the distance from their family, pack."

"What should Mari do?" the child gazed earnestly out through the glass.

"Reassure them, show them your drawing, tell them about being here," Akemi listed gently, her attention increasingly drawn from the child as her muscles began to reflexively tighten under her growing tension. The young collected in her womb continued to move and pinch and kick uncomfortably, but all she could focus on was the warning bells beginning to sound inside her head. Without conscious thought, a growl sounded in the back of her throat, rousing the attention of her mate and the elder pups on the verge of waking in the next room over.

Mari nodded sharply oblivious to the growing apprehension of the youkai settled behind her. Her powers of observation were arrested by the notion of having to comfort and soothe her parents about a night spent with the rest of the pups and their alpha. "Mari will do that! Mari will do that right now!" she nodded sharply in confirmation of her resolution. Promptly on the heels of her declaration, the girl turned to race out of the house that Sesshoumaru built, her work of art clutched carefully between her small hands.

Reacting instantly, Akemi's hand clamped down on the child's shoulder as her eyes widened in horror. "Sesshoumaru!" she called to the quickly approaching male as her eyes finally made out what her senses had been trying to warn her about. Remembered fear and rage flooded the bond between them as soon as he also realized just what was coming. "The barrier is down around the big house, Sesshoumaru," Akemi informed him, her worry palpable as it haunted and flavored the air. Mari's confusion and growing fear only added to the panic the other pups were starting to emit.

"Mommy and Daddy are out there!" she wailed.

Akemi moved to exit the house and fulfill her duty as alpha only to stop short when the movement around her middle suddenly increased momentarily.

"Stay here," Sesshoumaru growled smoothly to his alpha. "I will go. I'll send one up to the mansion and the other in here to help watch the pups. You can't fight him like this," he pushed her back into the knot of pups gently. This was his moment, a point in time where the beta took over for the Alpha in order to protect her. It was only slightly more satisfying that he would also be protecting his mate and unborn pups as well.

With a burst of speed he was only just recovered enough to use without issue a month previous, Sesshoumaru approached the concerned slayer and perverted monk. "Miroku, you go up to the house and keep Akemi inside. Do you understand? Under no circumstances is she or any of the pups to come outside until this situation is taken care of," he ordered the human male authoritatively.

"What's going one? Is something wrong with Akemi?" Sango began to demand.

"There is no time!" Sesshoumaru snarled at the inquisitive woman. "You need to go up to the mansion and get Kagome to reinstate her barrier, right now!"

"You don't talk to me that way, Taishou Sesshoumaru!" Sango growled at him.

"The youkai responsible for delivering the injury that brought Akemi out of the wild has managed to track her down," Kikyou declared blandly as she arrived to stand beside Akemi's beta. "Akemi herself cannot take him on in her current condition." The miko phantom glanced up to the house by the tree line. "Akemi is protected behind Kagome's barrier, but only if she stays there. Which she will not do if she believes her pack is endangered as they are at the moment."

"Alright, I get it," Sango grumbled. "But you're not taking this Hunter creature on alone."

"Go," Sesshoumaru growled. He didn't want aid. This was his chance to protect everything that his alpha held dear. He would not fail.

The slayer reluctantly raced up to the Taishou manse, determined to be as quick about it as possible. There was no way she was leaving Sesshoumaru alone to deal with an aggressive feral strong enough to damage Akemi. He wasn't trained for it like she was. Fighting regular youkai was different from fighting Ferals.

"Kagome!" Sango screamed out upon breaching the confines of the big house. "Kagome!" she hollered again as she made a bee-line for the storage closet housing some of her exterminator gear.

"Sango!" Kagome hollered back in a scolding tone, "It's too early to be making such a rack- What are you doing?" the miko demanded as soon as she spotted Sango fishing her Hiraikotsu out of the gear piled up in the hall outside the closet.

"We have a situation." Sango announced shortly. "Sesshoumaru sent Miroku into the house in an effort to keep Akemi and the pups inside. The inu youkai and Kikyou are standing out on the lawn waiting for the arrival of Akemi's hunter. Looks like he finally tracked her down, Kagome."

"I thought, I thought she was safe, finally."

"Apparently not, and she warned us about it months ago, remember? In the council chamber?" Sango pointed out. "Sesshoumaru wants you to put the barrier back up to protect the Broken Pack. Kikyou doesn't think Akemi will stay where she is if her pack remains exposed to the actions of her Hunter."

Kagome nodded, "Makes sense." It certainly did, if you knew Akemi.

"Wait a damn minute!" Morenda growled as she and a number of the more aggressive members of the Broken Pack approached the Miko and Slayer conference convening in the hall. "This Hunter, this feral creep, bled Akemi and threatened the life of her pups, right?"

"Well, yes, but Sesshoumaru, Kikyou, Sango and I will take care of it-"

"Kagome, Exterminator teams consist of at least ten trained people and they still occasionally come back with injuries like Kohaku," Aramanda pointed out firmly.

"But-" the miko stuttered.

"Give it up, Kagome," Gelinda interrupted their miko protector. "We're not incapable of fighting for ourselves. This feral has already hurt our alpha once, left her bleeding on your kitchen table. You might say, some of us want more than a little piece of the bastard."

"You don't get it!" Sango protested. "Keeping you guys out of it is the only way of keeping Akemi out of it!"

"Then we have a problem," Gelinda impulsively retorted, "because there's noway you'll be able to keep us out of it while you're busy trying to take out that bastard even with our help."

"Not if Kagome puts up her barri-"

"You really want to try that against all of us?" Morenda demanded. "If you do, then Kagome will be out of commission after we break through it causing her own power to backlash!"

"And don't for one second think we won't do it!" Aramanda growled in support of her sisters. The crowd behind them growing the longer they argued.

"Even those of us who wouldn't be going out there to battle it out would help break down the barrier if pressed in this miko," Grace calmly informed Kagome and Sango. "Akemi protected us to her own detriment when we were still at school and she's still doing it. This our chance to return the favor. Stop wasting time debating it and get out there. Akemi's male and your miko phantom are waiting and at risk."

"We can't let anything happen to Sesshoumaru," Morenda declared.

"Akemi would be lost to us again," Aramanda added. "Forever this time."

"Really, we're just selfish," Gelinda grinned mischievously. "that and I'm really eager for a fight."

"You are such a tomboy," Kagome chuckled weakly.

"Nah, just determined to prove my worth to our exalted alpha," the female shrugged. She was younger than most of the others who had suffered the same torture as Akemi, as such she had not known Akemi for as long nor been under her capable protection for much more than a few short years before the feral left them the first time. Like young boys introduced to their legendary heroes for the first time, Gelinda and a number of others in the Broken Pack were resolved to show the strength of their mettle.

"Are we going to get this show on the road or what?" Morenda demanded from down the hall.

"I shall see to it that all of us who remain pull back to the shielded wing," Grace called after them quietly.

As the group neared the waiting taiyoukai and miko phantom, Sesshoumaru did not bother to even glance their way. "Akemi's pack is entirely too much like her," Kikyou smirked at the gathered members of the Broken Pack, behind Sango hefting her Hiraikotsue and Kagome sparking reiki between her fingers in anxious preparation. Their were about fourteen of them stretching their claws and flexing their youki.

"What on earth is going on here?" a demanding voice called from behind them. "I demand to be informed of what all this strange behavior is about!"

"Hmm," Kikyou hummed at the Taishou approaching in high dedgeon. "I am quite surprised such a diligently unobservant individual, such as yourself, would be able to determine any behavior out of the ordinary."

The insulted male growled at the annoying dead woman, "These are my lands, it is my duty to know when something suspicious is going on!"

"Indeed," Sesshoumaru snorted without removing his eyes from the incoming threat. There was little else required to impart his own disdain for his sire's observation skills.

"Somebody answer me, damnit!"

"Kagome," Inuyasha came up panting behind his father. "Where's the fire?"

"We have a powerful Feral making straight for us." Sango answered.

"The same Feral male who nearly killed Akemi and Sesshoumaru months ago," Kagome added needlessly.

"The one she warned us all about when the council forced her to unshield her youki before granting her pardon," Morenda continued on with the explanations. "She knew then that this would happen."

"So? What are you gathered out here for? Isn't it just another Feral to you fools?" Inu no Taishou scoffed at their anxiety.

"No you idiot!"

"This male makes Akemi nervous," Sesshoumaru declared. "No other could better gauge the likelihood of another Feral being recovered enough to re-enter society."

"Fine then, she stands as your weather vane," the Taishou grumbled. "Where is this threat that has you all so worried then?"

"Figures you wouldn't be able to sense him," Morenda scoffed dismissively.

Sango glanced at Kagome, "Can you sense him?"

"Only Sesshoumaru can remotely sense him," Kikyou answered the general question, "And that only because he is closest to Akemi's strength and sensitivity. One almost wonders if it wasn't something he picked up through their mating bond."

"Wait," Taishou crowed, "None of you can sense him either?"

"I can sense him," Kikyou corrected for him. "I have maimed him in the past when he got too close to Akemi before."

"What?" Kagome gasped.

"Akemi purposely lead him into territory she knew I watched over specifically for that purpose. He was gaining on her day by day," the miko phantom expounded mildly. "I'd have killed him out right if able to. He is too strong for that, too desperate to continue, to survive." Kikyou glanced over the rest gathered to defend the pack and Akemi, "This is the essence of what a feral is, a creature with few other desires beyond that of survival. Their single-mindedness makes them strong, makes them cunning, and seemingly impossible to take down. Those who go feral through abuse do so because everything about them is broken down until nothing remains but the will to survive."

The often times stoic and cold miko displaced by time studied the crowd beginning to twitch with pent up energy and too much adrenaline. "Do not underestimate the youkai that comes. He has managed to survive outside of the wilds for months without help and without detection. Our greater numbers will not necessarily help us." Kikyou returned her attention to the now visible youkai cutting through the thin morning light and the deepening blue sky. "Watch out for each other, it is our only advantage, for he has no one to protect him."

In fact, the approaching feral hadn't even cover to take for he had forsaken the trees, no longer attempting to hide. They knew he was coming, _she_ knew he was coming, all that was left now was to cut through all that stood in his way, claim the female he hunted for and remove them both back to the wilds where they belonged. Today would finally end it all.


	50. Ch 49 All the Afternoon

In response to your response, I got nothing to say.

Standard disclaimers apply.

The end.

**All the Afternoon**

Miroku stared out the wide window crowded up behind all of the kids. It was only slightly emasculating that he always wound up babysitting whenever anything remotely dangerous was going down. Miroku was a fully vested monk with his own brand of reiki to pull from, but when compared to the brute strength and control of Kagome's, the professional training received by his wife and just about everybody else's youkai edge, he tended to come up lacking. He was realistic enough to admit that. And most times he was more than willing to let it slide, but in this instance he was finding it harder to accept.

Oh he knew, he was supposed to do more than watch the youngsters gathered about the glass window and confusedly murmuring over the expanding crowd outside. Keeping Akemi inside wasn't terribly difficult or even that high of a priority. Slap a few of his strongest sutras over the exits and that part of the job was done. Now all he had to fill his time was watching as the arriving suitors of the Broken Pack got to join up with the rest of the would be warriors waiting on the grass while he was stuck behind a miko barrier and his own houshi version with a bunch of youngsters.

Granted, Miroku wasn't the most macho of men, more than willing to hang out with the women and indulge in their little foibles himself. No one had ever bothered to question his masculinity because it was obvious he did it to get his wandering hands a feel of the feminine form. It had been fun, engaging and got him out of all that sweat inducing heavy lifting. Miroku wasted sweat on nothing other than heavy trysting.

His lovely little exterminator more than kept him satisfied and he was never threatened by Sango's higher pack status, professional ability or even her ability to physically over power him on the few occasions such was called for. He was man enough to take the reality and still stick with her. He accepted that Sango's job often called her away from home, leaving him to look after Hiro and the girls.

It was actually the added element of having children that made his banishment to the babysitting gig rankle so much. What sort of example was he setting for his boy? More than that, who would his girls look to for protection? He already knew they all thought their mom was scarier when it came to getting in trouble.

Hiro usually blew him off whenever Miroku tried to discipline him and the girls just turned on the water works and Miroku couldn't apologize fast enough.

Eyes dancing anxiously over the grounds, searching out his wife, Miroku took a deep breath and tried to release it slow and calm without much success.

Perhaps what really drove his upset at being given the care of the kids while everybody else capable of fighting waited beyond Kagome's barrier was the possibility Sango had brought up while the kids weren't home last night. For reasons Miroku hadn't seen, his bold, beautiful Sango had threatened him with either marriage counseling or divorce.

That might well be it. Miroku's world was insecure and much as he would like to blame his problems on the arrival of their feral alpha, the fact was, their communication problems had been in place long before her arrival.

"What are they doing?" said feral alpha demanded from behind him. Akemi was actually the only person in the house not trying to press up to the glass separating them from the out doors.

"Is it not obvious?" Miroku answered. "They await your hunter in order to eliminate his threat." He managed to tear his eyes from the view in order to better observe the affect of his words on the gravid female. He was actually quite surprised that she had seemed unable to pick up on this as all his previous, though admittedly limited, experience with the feral lead him to believe she was more than capable of picking up on cues far more subtle than this.

"That may be what they think they are doing houshi, but instead they are simply making targets of themselves," she growled back it him darkly.

Miroku grit his teeth in irritation. There were very few members of the greater pack who were referred to by name in the feral's company. All of the children were simply "pup". Sango was "slayer" and her younger brother was "broken slayer" to distinguish between the two. Inuyasha was "hanyou" and even the Inu no Taishou was referred to as what he was rather than who. Though in all honesty more than just the Feral female referred to the latter as "fool" and since her coming, generally added "rabid" to the appellation as well.

Kagome was always Kagome, however, and she was the only one in the pack to consistently be so honored. Not even Sesshoumaru could claim the same. In any other person it would be a sign of disrespect. In general it would be insulting. Sometimes it was hard for Miroku to curb his usual reaction to being addressed as simply what he was rather than the more individualized approach. It wasn't like she didn't know their names. The feral had used them from time to time.

Actually, now that he thought about it, the pink-haired inu never had given voice to his name. "I am Miroku," he informed her pointedly.

Her reddened eyes narrowed on him, one eyebrow raised in mirror of an expression often purported by Sesshoumaru. "And I am Akemi," she rebuffed him just as pointedly, her tone leaving no room for him to mistake both her understanding of his intentions behind declaring his name and her effort to turn the same lesson back on himself. "My hearing is better than yours, houshi. No words spoken within these properties goes entirely unheard by me and Feral is a word that buzzes in my ears louder than any other. One word this Akemi has never heard from your voice since my coming here is that of my assigned name."

Miroku paled with the realization of her truth. Was he so prejudiced as to demand a courtesy of her that he had failed to give himself.

"Perhaps before wasting time demanding selfish, needless things that you want you should pay attention to more important events occurring all around you." Miroku's stunned staring eyes watched as she paused, reaching out a hand to rest on the door frame while breathing forcibly deep and smooth. It was clear she was in some sort of discomfort or pain.

"Are you," he didn't want to finish his thought for it was too horrifying to be possible, "Are you in Labor?"

Akemi released another breath before carefully releasing her grip on the wood creaking beneath her claws. "No," she answered succinctly. She wasn't quite to the birthing yet. "It is a near thing, but the flooding has not happened yet."

"The Flooding?" the monk questioned, confusion staining his words.

"Hnn, the release of fluid from the womb preceding the birthing process," she translated her terminology for him.

"Oh, you mean your water hasn't broken yet," Miroku sighed in relief.

"Water is a liquid," Akemi observed the slightly panting male, listening as his heartbeat began to slow. "As such, how can it break?"

Instead of answering her, he began to laugh in relief.

Rin turned around and glared at him, "Now is no time to be laughing!"

"Hey," Hiro elbowed the older girl. "Leave my dad alone! He's an adult, they do all sorts of weird things for no reason! I mean, look at all those dummies out there right now. They're sitting ducks! And only my mom was smart enough to bring an actual weapon!"

"Well my mom doesn't actually need a weapon," Takara pointed out. "She's a weapon all by herself and my Daddy's got claws to back her up if she needs it!"

"A'emi said they shouldn't be out there, though," Mari pointed out quietly.

The other kids sobered up and dropped their debate.

"Why shouldn't they be out their?" Shippou asked their alpha seriously. This new pack was his family and he never wanted to lose any of it for any reason.

"The hunter who comes is feral," Akemi pointed out.

"But our mom fights feral youkai all the time," Kaori pointed out hopefully.

Akemi shook her head, "She fights starved, weakened, desperate ferals and the newly fallen. The hunter is neither."

"Surely there is not so much of a difference," Miroku began.

Akemi snorted. "There is a great deal of difference between the newly fallen and those that have survived years in the wild. We are tougher, stronger, wiser, and more experienced. A seasoned hunter such as the one that comes is also sufficiently well fed and at the peak of his strength at all times. More than that, what he hunts is female and not food, which means, he has planned to fight any and all comers in the wild. You nonferals simply cannot compare."

He blinked and the kids began to fret, their distress only grew when the youkai anticipated made his arrival and ran through almost half of the gathered force before Sesshoumaru managed to bring the Hunter to a halt. Sango moved to swipe at the creature with her powerful weapon only to catch air as the Feral disappeared from the ground, leaping up and over the heads of half a dozen more would be attackers only to land on the edge of the miko barrier.

A blast of the miko phantom's power came at him from the side left him mildly singed as he dodged out of the way only to get caught against another miko barrier formed behind him. Kagome may not be able to blast an opponent with reiki, but even barriers could cause some damage if used in the right way. A fully transformed kuro neko attempted to pounce on the feral male and only wound up singed by the same barrier that had caught him unawares. No one was causing him serious damage and the feral hunter was using the miko barrier protecting their alpha to his advantage.

"How is this possible?" Miroku breathed in horrified awe. The Feral male wasn't trying to kill everyone present, he was simply mowing through them to reach his goal. He hadn't even thought it was possible for a youkai to use a miko barrier to his own advantage.

"I told you," Akemi declared blandly, "he is feral. You expect him to feel threatened and attack you to remove your threats. But he has other options and other goals in mind. The ones out there aren't a threat and therefore amount to little more than pests or prey. They are annoyances to him and little more. All except Sesshoumaru, Sesshoumaru he sees as a usurper, a thief after the Hunter's own prize. As such he only wants to get to me and keep Sesshoumaru away."

Miroku blinked at her failing to comprehend her meaning adequately.

"Then who can defeat the bad youkai?" Hiro demanded, slightly miffed that all his hard work setting up traps had proven pointless when the bad guy had simply landed in the middle of the grounds rather than entering along the drive or forest's edge like any normal visitor.

"Silly pups," Akemi shook her head. "He is feral. Only another feral can successfully fight a feral."

"You?" Miroku gasped. "But you can't go out there. You're in no condition to fight. What about your pups?" he gestured to her bulging belly wildly.

"Do you see another Feral around to do the job?" Akemi scoffed. "I am feral and I will do what I must to survive. I will not allow needless death to be rained down upon my pack for their foolishness or his insanity. He needs to be put down."

"But- but"

"Now remove your annoying slips of wood pulp before I stop being nice and break through them on my own," Akemi ordered sternly as two members of the Broken Pack were thrown against the protective barrier erected about the house that Sesshoumaru built.

"I'll do it!" Hiro declared rather annoyed by the delay. That was his mom out there. If his mom couldn't take out the feral on her own then he was for darn sure going to make sure that they sent out what she needed to finish the job, whatever it was.

"Hiro," Miroku began sternly if impotently as the deed had already been done.

The roar Akemi released upon entering the field of battle shook the foundations of the ancient Taishou house. She wasted no time in knocking the bastard from the barrier protecting the pups to sprawl out into grass field. With an equally formidable roar the Hunter rose to his feet, irate at being attacked from the one side he'd felt protected.

Upon identifying this new opponent, he began to growl and snarl in the guttural language of feral youkai. Akemi answered in kind, clearly unrepentant and unimpressed by his display of authority.

Naturally, this infuriated the feral male further, driving him to stalk up to the female he'd stalked for years to snarl up into her face. Her new reply provoked a swift strike of his open hand against the side of her face forcing her head to the side and scoring lines across her cheek in his anger.

This blow dealt to their alpha spurred all of the pack present into moving to remove the threat. Before anyone could get in closer, the feral male fell to his knees, wide eyed with shock. Almost a full minute later he fell the rest of the way to the ground to reveal the feral female prize flicking his blood from her claws, repugnance clear on her face, proving that it took a feral to kill another feral for both had moved at the same time. His blow had been to discipline her for allowing her body to carry the seed of a male that was not him and hers had been through his chest to remove the most vital organ that resided there.

"Wait a minute," Sango gaped. "Weren't you sort of talking to him?"

Akemi tilted her head to the side, "So?"

"You killed him while you were talking," Kagome wore a similar stunned expression as the felled youkai disintegrated on the wind.

"We weren't negotiating over territories, Kagome," Akemi shook her head as she once again flicked her wrist in attempt to remove more of the offending blood.

Miroku stumbled up to them from the house. "Why were your blows so different in nature?"

"Miroku! You were supposed to keep her in the house!"

Akemi snorted "So that you could stand out here and continue to fail at repelling him?"

"We were doing all right," Morenda protested.

"Against a non feral, you would have been fine. Against a feral in his prime?" Akemi scoffed. "You would have fought until you wore yourselves out and annoyed him enough that he would have killed you just to rid himself of the pests. Only a feral can fight another feral." A minute later, Akemi latched onto the arm of the monk who was the closest body to her and took a deep breath only to let it out on a keening moan of pain followed by the sudden release of amniotic fluid. When the sensation relented Akemi almost collapsed.

"Holy conundrum!" Miroku nearly fainted, his words proof that he had well and truly learned Sango's lesson about language in front of the kids. "She's in labor!"

"Somebody call Dr. Chorin!"

"Where's Sesshoumaru?"

"Get her into the clinic, Fast!"

"It's happening! It's happening right now!"

"Will you get out of the way, already!"

"Move! I said move!"

"This is why we wanted her kept out of it!"

"Never mind that, somebody boil some water or something!"

Despite the increasing din of noise and confusion, the pack somehow did manage to relocate Akemi to the designated room inside the mansion to wait for the doctor to arrive.

Leaving no one available to meet the brave group of pups out on the green expanse except one dazed and mildly battered inu youkai beta.

"Uncle Sesshoumaru?" Takara called out to the elder inu. He was acting rather odd, shaking his head sharply as if to dislodge water from his ears and stumbling in a small circle. "Uncle Sesshoumaru! What's going on? Is the alpha okay?"

"Se-omaru! Se-omaru!" Mari tugged on Sesshoumaru's torn pant leg urgently.

"Wait your turn, Mari," Kaori scolded.

Mari rolled her eyes and kept up her tugging, which helped to keep Sesshoumaru in one place. "SE-OMARU!"

"Mari," the inu managed to rumble, slowly reorientating himself to a world that wasn't flying by his ears or raining pain up from the grass at his feet. The Feral male had knocked more than Sesshoumaru about, but Sesshoumaru had been the one to do the most flying and warranted the greatest effort to cause pain. Sesshoumaru had impregnated the desired female after all. "Mari, what is it?"

"What about them?" the little girl pointed towards the branch of wilderness not guarded by Kagome's barrier.

Sesshoumaru followed the child's direction, carefully so as to prevent increasing the nauseating shift of the world that occurred whenever he moved too quickly. What Mari had noticed was a small group of youkai slowly exiting the shelter found amidst the trees. There three males and two females, all clearly feral, but what had Sesshoumaru frozen in place was that one of the males looked exactly like Katsuro, his elder lost brother.

The group moved slowly, cautiously obviously uneasy without the cover of the forest, but still moving steadily towards Sesshoumaru and the pups. Upon reaching a communicable distance, they stopped and the leading male, the one Sesshoumaru could definitively claim was Katsuro, growled at them.

"What'd he say?" Rin asked of Sesshoumaru, convinced that Sesshoumaru would know. She glanced at Shippou who shrugged in confusion when their beta merely continued to stare at the strange youkai.

The feral leader huffed before reaching back into his pack to grasp the hand of one of the males and pulled him closer to him. "I asked," the feral alpha of this strange pack began in a gravelly under used voice. "Where is the feral bitch who has reentered the world beyond the wilds?"

"Oh! You mean miss Akemi!" Rin gasped delighted to have understood this new feral.

"Sesshoumaru!" Morenda yelled as she ran from the house. "Why are you still out here? Akemi's having your pups and your out her-" she cut herself off as she realized the pack beta was holding conference with a group of unknown feral youkai. Feral youkai who had tensed up at her fast and noisy approach.

"Akemi's having the babies!" Takara squealed with excitement and the younger pups all began to jump around eager to meet the new playmates.

Rin grinned her joy before turning back to the nervous ferals, "Akemi is the feral you are looking for, but she, um, she's having pups?"

The feral male standing in charge, nodded his understanding, "We will wait."

Morenda shook her head, bewildered and bemused but willing to shove it to the unimportant side lines of her mind and returned to the fact that Akemi was in the house preparing to give birth to her litter of pups without the presence of her mate. "Sesshoumaru, Akemi, birthing pups in the house, now." Then she turned abruptly and headed back to rejoin the crowd milling through the packed halls outside the clinic rooms.

"Should we go?" Shippou asked curiously.

"Better if we wait until later," Rin judged with a nod to herself.

"There's nothing to see until the being born part's over anyway," Hiro asserted dismissively.

"How long does the being born part take, Hiro?" Kaori asked curiously, she was too young to properly remember the waiting borne during anybody else's birth.

"Oh, hours," Hiro stressed the word to make it seem like forever.

"The Birthing takes however long it is supposed to take," the only feral of the new group to talk informed them. "You should go," he suggested to the lingering Sesshoumaru. "We'll not harm these pups."

"Yeah," Hiro hollered, "Daddies are supposed to be there, to help make it happen." Hiro was very certain of this, after all, he was the only pup, besides Takara, who remembered being around at the time of someone's birthday. Darn near an expert. The Dad was always with the mom during the being born part.

"Se-omaru, we'll be all right," Mari tugged on his pant leg gently. "A'emi needs you, don't leave her alone if she needs you."

Amazingly, this last appeal was the one that seemed to get through the stunned haze the last few hours had created between Sesshoumaru's ears. Carefully removing the child's grip from his garment, he turned from the pups and the new feral element and bolted towards the mansion without further thought.


	51. Ch 50 What Dreams Come True

Hot off the presses, sorry for any errors. I do try to catch them, but I am just one tired author.

This is the last story and I am so pleased to be able heave a big sigh of relief as this finally falls off my plate. It's been a long struggle, but I hope it was successful. Luckily, the two other fanfics I'm working on have easier themes throughout, though I've hit a snag or two in those from time to time. If I've left anything hanging and you have questions go ahead and ask them, I always answer if I have the ability. Or not. I'm not doing anything for this upcoming American holiday, so give me something else to think about all week.

Disclaimers made. Leave me alone, I have to go do laundry.

**What Dreams Come True**

Sesshoumaru stood staring out the wide window of the den he shared with his alpha and their young intimate pack. His eyes were seemingly glued on the browning expanse of lawn that spread from the front door of the house he'd built all those years ago. The seasons were changing again, though all of the pack had been so busy over the past years that there was little time to note when spring changed to summer and summer into fall.

Despite his appearance, Sesshoumaru wasn't really looking at the yard of drying grass beyond noting that all of the pack pups were out playing in various levels of closeness. The pups were how the pack marked the passage of time, for no other member showed their growth and development quite so obviously as the youngest members of the pack. All had grown taller, gaining reach and greater personality as they aged and experienced new things.

All those years ago, there wasn't a way for any feral to rejoin society after falling from grace. You were dubbed completely insane, incapable of higher understanding and killed on sight. Such was why Sesshoumaru had waited in the woods. If Akemi had ever come back to him, the wilderness is where they would have had to stay. He had actually expected to have to go back to the forest after bringing her to Kagome at the beginning of all this. Much as the Taishou pack would have accepted keeping their lost pack mate, the expectation was society and council would not permit it.

Sesshoumaru had obviously underestimated the determination and capability of Kagome and Sango when motivated. They had found precedent for Akemi's inclusion in society and had it ratified by the ruling council within hours of the feral's appearance that day. Now, Akemi joined Sango on her jobs to judge if each reported Feral in question could be assimilated into society, and if they couldn't, she helped the Exterminators lead the starving and desperate to a new wilderness that would provide the necessary resources for survival. Nobody could better judge a feral's development than Akemi.

Oftentimes, they were lead right to the smallish woods on Taishou property for closer supervision and aid. Most ferals who were relocated fell back into close proximity of Akemi within months. She comforted them simply by being. Ferals held her up as protector and sympathizer and proof that there was an end, though none had verbalized it so explicitly. The speaker for the MateMatcher's had explained it to the council best, Akemi was a Shikon level alpha. As such her mere presence could work wonders.

As experienced within the Broken Pack itself. The number of fully mated members had steadily grown with the passage of time. There were still a few who remained too anxious to take that step with their suitors, but those numbers had dwindled to almost single digits. Akemi's help had done wonders even without reinstating those pointless classes that had so frustrated Sesshoumaru during her pregnancy.

It had all gone exponentially easier when Kagome had convinced a few eager human psychologists to come out to the estate and offer individual and group therapies. They hadn't tried to diagnose anyone, but mainly focused on getting both sides to talk and build trust. Even Sango and Miroku had joined the couple's sessions, partially to help break the ice showing as humans were more willing to vocalize issues than youkai were, but also proving to the more stubborn and reluctant males that problems didn't just stop with mating. Akemi attended all of the first efforts, putting her personal stamp of approval on it as she also made certain nothing harmful would come of it. For the first few weeks, Sesshoumaru and their tumbling, toddling pups had also attended, never leaving the alpha's side. Not surprisingly the presence of such young pups was mildly protested by the "counselors" until they realized the Broken Pack loosened up all the more for their presence.

It was hard to be anxious talking about fears with four cheerful pups bounding through the room and willing to crawl into the laps of any pack member exhibiting signs of upset. Despite what was required for the conception of pups most of the Broken Pack had aspirations of having pups of their own. Therapy revealed that most of them believed they would never have the offspring they wanted regardless of the open possibilities of an unknown future. The associated males present when that little gem came out were stunned.

Akemi wasn't. She was already working out how to fix Crissandra's supposed infertility. The rumor of Crissandra's difficulty to conceive and the preliminary doctor's finding that she was incapable of having pups of her own had made the rounds. All of the others who had suffered the same as Crissandra feared they would suffer the same. It was, it turned out, a big issue to be addressed.

Ultimately, it proved to be a gateway to the rest of the issues suffered by the individuals attending the therapy sessions. It wasn't the biggest fear of the Broken Pack, but opening up about this one very hidden yet widely held fear served as a launch pad for everything else. It also was the best way to bring a few of the more presumptuous males into the reality that their promised partners had valid solid reasons for being so reluctant to let off the breaks and allow a relationship to build naturally. The youkai mentality that procreation was important in any relationship was still very much in existence, fertility had been grounds for more than one dissolution in recent years. The females had enough self-knowledge to know they would never survive such an occurrence, especially as that kind of break up always seemed to result in ridicule and alienation of the female rather than the male.

A number of the volunteer psychologists were cranking out professional articles detailing and theorizing over the untapped subject of youkai psychology, societal conditioning and coping mechanisms, comparing them to their human counterparts. It was a rapidly growing field that was getting a lot of notice from authorities that come in contact with abused youkai children and young adults.

Officially, it wasn't happening, but everyone involved was making certain all cases of abuse found their way into the Exterminator's pile of jobs and was instantly bought to the attention of the Broken Pack and Akemi. Or at least the more conscientious members of law enforcement and social service agencies did, the ones that genuinely wanted to do the best for the terrorized and traumatized individuals that came to their attention. There were still many who refused to trust in a feral or the new fangled ideas coming out of the reintroduction of the voluntarily exiled factions of youkai society. Such numbers were swiftly dwindling though, Sesshoumaru sighed with gratitude for that.

Akemi's unique position in society was gaining respect everyday, thanks to the slow swelling number of ferals stepping peacefully out of the woods.

The Ferals that had wandered out of the wilderness on the day that Akemi birthed her litter had actually proved to the world that Akemi wasn't a special case. As it turns out the alpha of that little group really was Sesshoumaru's long lost older brother, driven feral by – once again – the willful denial of his true nature by the Taishou, his father. Katsuro had been betrothed at a young age as was the customary practice to the present day. The problems arose when the Taishou managed to notice his heir wasn't interested in the female chosen for him at all. This was hardly unusual given that most pairs barely knew each other prior to the mandatory year of courting prior to either reaching maturity (Sesshoumaru and Akemi were a special case as Akemi had no other living relatives when matched with him). The young lady was willing enough given the Taishou line's power and natural good looks, but Katsuro wasn't even moderately curious about the inu who was promised to be his mate.

There were clues, as a young youkai would hardly think to hide his true nature when such was openly accepted in the wider society. Katsuro was a little too attached to his buddies. Hugged them just a little too often, occasionally seemed just a little too sensitive. Not once during the trying time of his coming of age did he take any notice of attractive females thrown his way. Most males, while not literally jumping on any female that passed by, would certainly take notice, Katsuro did not. A few males on the other hand.

And in true Inu no Taishou fashion, the head of the clan went about trying to fix his heir. There was no way the Taishou could sire a male so fruity, so unlikely to produce offspring of his own. It was already disgraceful enough that the old man hadn't been able to produce more than the heir and Sesshoumaru.

Things came to a head when Taishou tried to force the mating between his eldest and the female chosen for him. It wasn't the only thing the inept father had done to his boy, but it was the straw that broke the camels back. Katsuro went feral and the clan counted him as lost, leaving Sesshoumaru, then too young to know the difference, to step up to his brother's recently deserted post.

When Akemi had finally recovered from having four pups in one birthing and managed to meet this new small pack, the Taishou had been present.

Sesshoumaru smirked gently at the memory. In the Growling way of Ferals, the two alphas had conferred about reentry, wilderness experiences and just generally being feral. When the exchange was over, Akemi had laid into the Taishou so vehemently the old man had been terrified to come near either feral for months.

Not that either feral cared to notice. Katsuro's pack consisted of the male he was attached to and refused to let out of his sight. The two were about as close to Sesshoumaru's bond to Akemi as could be found without an actual mating bond. There were two females, and Akemi had openly surmised that the only reason they had stuck by the alpha male was because he so clearly wouldn't touch them even were they to go into heat. Kagome had been certain to take both females in hand to help them prevent suffering another such fertility period unwillingly. Their undying gratitude had won the miko their permanent trust and Akemi's guileless relief as she too learned the use of those special herbs herself.

It was the final member of the group though, that had probably done the most good for Ferals coming back into the world. The last was a male who, for reasons unknown, still maintained the mentality of a child who had not reached maturity. It was clear something had caused this to come about and the poor male had been driven feral by the sudden urging of a body he couldn't mentally comprehend. The psychologists believed it was a mental condition that had existed from birth and only became glaringly apparent at puberty.

The pups had taken him in hand immediately, the slayer's youngest especially. With Takara always around for the first few months and Mari's natural ability to observe and act on what she saw, they soon had him playing naturally with all the other pups. Occasionally the male had to be reminded to temper his strength when he got too involved to remember, but he was safe enough in their care.

A year or so back, Mari had declared her intention to keep him. Most of the pack had worried at the – now teenage – human girl trying to mate with a male so unable to understand such a connection, but not Akemi. Akemi had treated the situation as she had any other pack member planning to mate. She had taken the male aside and asked him seriously about what he wanted.

After their serious private conference concluded, Akemi had declared she held no reservations over the match though Mari's parents insisted she wait until she reached legal maturity before going through with it. In the mean time, the two were seldom apart.

Rin had grown and was currently attending college. She no longer lived on the Taishou grounds, but returned often to visit with her near constant escort Kohaku. The Broken Slayer was actually doing better around youkai these days as prior to the return of Akemi the boy couldn't be forced onto the grounds without extreme violence. He refused to stay overnight though, even if Rin often did.

Takara had just started university. Both young females were determined to break ground in the new fields associated with Feral reintroduction, though the partial youkai's reason was most likely due to her mother's constant fight and clear exhaustion. The pup had never grown out of her desire to help promote harmony among the pack and helping her mother educate the ignorantly prejudiced masses was just the next obvious step to her mind.

Hiro never outgrew his pranking ways, though with Shippou's help and gentle guidance, he never again strayed down the path of cruelty. He was currently studying to be a priest and pursuing everything that moved in a skirt. Shippou had found ample ammunition to tease him about his many exploits and occasional embarrassment and the younger male was taken in on more than once by cross dressers and trans gendered individuals. Shippou was open to all the alternate sexualities as by nature, most of his illusions took him into the same realm himself, Hiro's embarrassment was what made teasing him about it fun.

Shippou spent much of his time since achieving his maturity and being reintroduced to his betrothed out on his family property. Everything had been held in trust for him from the death of his parents the many years previous. All of Sango's exterminator teams made a point to check on him often when Hiro wasn't staying with him for company. Akemi made it out there at least once a month if the kitsune didn't make the time to come home.

As independent as the boy was trying to be, he needed the occasional contact with his alpha. Kitsune, like inu, were social creatures and relied on pack ties and cunning for protection and comfort. He loved when she came out, though he never said so. It was in the way he simply had to show her everything he had done and was doing to improve the productivity of the place. She didn't understand it and couldn't be properly impressed by any of it, but he simply had to show her and bask in her presence and approval.

Truthfully, Sesshoumaru smirked again, Akemi was simply proud that the kit was thriving on his own and that was all she needed to know. She had a way of assessing the well-being of all her pack that left each member unaware that she was doing it. He didn't know when she was doing it to him half the time, and he knew that she did it.

It had taken four years before the Taishou had overcome himself and settled back into being the pompous willfully ignorant ass they all knew him to be. Oh he'd become more subdued in a lot of things, but the numbers of the Taishou pack was never something the old youkai would drop as it was one shame that he believe couldn't be blamed on him. Four years after Akemi had birthed her litter and the old inu had begun badgering for more.

Kagome had growled at her father in-law the first time she heard him bring it up. It was unusual for the miko to react that way, but she was breeding herself at the time and well acquainted with the Taishou's unrelenting pressure to breed. Kagome herself was only on her third and believed that until everyone had caught up to Akemi's four the alpha should be off the hook for any further badgering.

The Inu no Taishou had found himself run around the property by one hormonal miko, four pure blooded youkai pups – always eager to chase anything -, Kagome's two previous kids, Sango's three, and Rin while Akemi simply blinked at the sudden circus. Dr. Chorin had huffed at the male's gall before turning pointedly to Akemi and declaring in hard tones that "You'd better wait a few years before attempting it again. As rough as your last pregnancy was, you don't want to go through that with the added stress of four young pups!"

Sesshoumaru had agreed. Akemi was stretched pretty thin without being pregnant, much as he would have loved to see her heavy with growing life again. Akemi had merely nodded her understanding before turning her attention back to Crissandra.

That was some years ago, though the memory was still vividly amusing. Sesshoumaru had never thought to live in such a wildly diverse and fluctuating pack, though once a member they were never completely lost. Every mated member of the Broken Pack visited often, even when they weren't attending follow up therapy sessions or seeing Dr. Chorin in the on site clinic. Dr. Chorin was in high demand, and a number of highly respected hospitals had offered to take her on for her expertise. She refused one and all, dedicating her time exclusively to the care of the ever growing pack. She was kept plenty busy as it was. She'd expressed need for a support staff for the clinic some time back as the Broken Pack began to mate and then reproduce. She wasn't comfortable with her ability to care for children beyond new borns and desired to ensure the best care was received by all.

Kagome had come to her rescue by bullying the Taishou into supporting an enlarged staff. A few more rooms were ceded to the clinic use as more and more members began to move out. The incoming ferals had no use for the above ground rooms anyway and the basement rooms were unsuitable for public use.

Most of the ferals that came in felt most comfortable in the old pack sleeping rooms that had been the first structures created under the house. Sesshoumaru's four pups often joined them without care, somehow secure in their welcome and safety.

In fact, the pups were rather pointedly planning to sleep there for the next several days. Dr. Chorin had given them the go ahead and Akemi had conceded to forgo the herbs used to keep her heat at bay. They were going to try for pups again.

Sesshoumaru stared out the window trying to keep his growing anticipation at bay. This was a first for him, despite the pups bounding around the grass outside. They were his pups, his blood, and he loved them, but they, like Rin and Shippou, were in a vague kind of way also not his simply because he couldn't consciously remember his part in conceiving them. This would be different, and while his affection for all the pups that looked to him to protect them would be as equal as he could make it, this would be special.

Akemi's mild scent in the air on any given day was enough to send a heady rush of arousal through his blood, but the scent of her fertility was certain to be something special, drive him beyond normal bounds experienced when they pursued proper coitus. And they did that often enough to keep them both well sated.

This would be different, because they wouldn't just be seeking pleasure and company, they would be seeking to create life.

Akemi had retired to their den hours ago in preparation. Sesshoumaru couldn't scent a change yet, but he trusted her to know when best to extract themselves from company for this. They hadn't told anyone else about their plans, though the pups had caught on and told them not to expect them home for a few days. It was their way of offering subtle approval. Sesshoumaru could only imagine the pups were thinking about the near future. Their baby girl would be going off to school next year as was custom before her betrothed could his puberty. Their boys would be hitting puberty about the same time and most pups began to withdraw from the parents at that time. They worried they'd leave their parents feeling lonely.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help the sappy smile that spread over his face. AS if he could ever feel lonely with Akemi.

The sudden dropping of Akemi's scent barrier caused her beta to stiffen instantly where he stood, shocked by the sudden irresistible call of pheromones flooding the air. In the next instant the area by the wide window was empty where the sun slowly withdrew from the interior floor.

The pups played outside oblivious to the sudden absence of their observer until the encroaching darkness and growing chill drove them from sight into the big house on the green.


End file.
